The Rookie
by Pen to Paper Writer
Summary: Rick Rodgers detective by day, loving dad by night. Rick has worked well without a partner for years. His Captain has other plans though. The newest, greenest, rookie detective to report to the 12th will be his newest problem. It seems that now Detective Rodgers will have his hands full! And he needs to play nice.
1. Chapter 1

Rick Rodgers has been awake long before his radio alarm clock has the audacity of going off. Looking at the clock it tells him that his internal clock is still working fine. It's just about 5:30 am. He then starts to think about his last shift at the 12th precinct. It was a horrible one. He was assigned a double homicide by his captain and was told to keep a lid on the entire investigation due to the fact that the two victims had somewhat of a celebrity status. Yeah, he thought to himself since when had anyone who was on American Gladiator been a celebrity? But he kept his cool and did not speak with the 4 or 5 reporters that were at the crime scene yesterday. He hated those vultures, always trying to get under anyone's skin for some bit of information.

Lying on his bed just staring at the ceiling, he notices that his ceiling could use a another coat of off white. Another item to add to the ever growing list of things that he needs to do. Being drawn out of his thoughts by the thing he did not want to happen, had. The radio alarm went into it's blaring of some top 40 song he knew the words to but the bands name escaped him. Quickly hitting the snooze button to silence the noise that came from the speaker he hoped this alarm did not wake either of his daughters. That, he would not be able to deal with this early in the morning. And of course his luck had just gone from better to worse

"Dad, what's got you up so early?" Rick heard in unison.

"Girls, please go back to sleep. I will wake you both up so your in time for the bus."

"But dad we never see you. You told us to have dinner with the sitter which for the record we really can't stand!"

"Olivia, Alyssa, that is your aunt, my sister your talking about." Rick gave a hurt look as he told them they actually did not like his sister.

All he heard was a giggling fit that he joined in on all too soon. "Dad we're just yanking your chain. If it was not for Pam we would be latch key kids in every sense of the word."

This was true. Pamela was a godsend for him and the girls. It was hard to believe that they had been on their own now for the last 15 years. There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't miss her. The girls only have family pictures and a couple of digital videos left of Coleen's life. If he only took the time to record her for the girls sake things could be just a little bit better. Fifteen years ago they were expecting twins. All was going according to plan. The babies were at the 34 month mark and they were healthy. Exactly the same in weight, length. They could be delivered early and they would both survive the birth. Coleen went full term and was induced on the seventh day of October. While they were waiting for the drugs to completely take effect they talked about their future and what great plans they had for their family. They had talked about Rick trying to take the Lieutenant's test and take charge of his career. Colleen would ask for more responsibility at her advertising firm. The world was theirs for the taking. Nothing could stop them! The L&D nurse entered and checked on Coleen.

"Hey Coleen, how are you feeling?"

"Well actually pretty good. Although I am feeling more pressure in my abdominal area."

The nurse checks how far Coleen has dilated since her last check. She is at 8.5 centimeters. Almost time she thinks.

"Coleen your just about 9 centimeters on a scale from 1 to 10. The abdominal discomfort is to be expected, nothing to worry about. Now, I think that it is time to get you to a labor room so we can bring these girls into the world."

They both are now more than ready. All of their families have arrived at the hospital and are waiting for some news. Rick asks Coleen if he can give them a quick update and she tells him to hurry back. She doesn't want him to miss the birth of his daughters. He is bombarded by questions from her and his families. Being as polite as he can he answers them as quickly as he is able to and makes a bee line back to the labor room. He hears the cries first. It's music to his ears. His daughters are here and he could not be happier, knowing that they are safe and sound. He quickly dons a paper gown and mask and turns the corner. Then what he hears next rocks him to his core.

"Get me 50cc's of eppy, NOW!"

"Starting chest compressions now doctor Johnson."

"Nurse Mills, get the patient out of the stirrups and try to control the bleeding. The doctor takes over when the first nurse sees him approaching.

"Doctor why is she showing a heart rate on the monitor when I can't find a pulse?"

"Nurse I am at a loss." The doctor scrambles to find out why his patient has now gone from a perfect birth to a catastrophic event in less than 5 minutes.

"DOCTOR, what about an embolism? Either amniotic or blood?"

"Damn Mills How could I have missed that, quick check to see if the placenta has any signs of trauma from either a rupture or maybe an abruption!"

"Doctor Johnson the placenta looks like it has separated from the uterine wall and it is partially covering the cervix. This might have caused the amniotic fluid to enter her blood stream. Thus causing a blood clot in her lungs or possibly he heart or brain."

"Mills I don't understand she is under 35, she did not show signs of preeclampsia. Okay let's get a scan of her lungs and brain so we can get a handle on this. Just as the portable MRI machine arrives Coleen's heart rate drops once again. She has now been medically dead for 5 minutes. This time there is no way to get her heart started again. Rick had been pushed back to the wall just inside the door. He heard everything. He was in shock. Nurse Mills walked by on her way out of the room, giving him an apologetic look.

Other staff followed and then before he could leave doctor Johnson turned to see Rick standing there leaning against the wall, a look of disbelief written all over his face. He knew that he needed the truth so he gently drew Rick out of his daze. He places a hand on Rick's shoulder and starts to explain what happened to his wife.

"Mr. Rodgers, It turns out your wife had suffered from a Amniotic fluid embolism. It is rare, however the conditions that your wife was presented with had us fighting the wrong diagnosis. We wasted precious seconds trying to get the proper treatment for what we thought was heart failure."

Rick just stares at his wife's lifeless body lying on the OB delivery bed. How could things go so wrong in less than 15 minutes. He had only explained to their families what was going on and he was right back in there with her.

Dr. Johnson, can I see my daughters?"

"By all means Mr. Rodgers. I'll have a nurse bring you to the nursery. You will have forms to fill out for the birth certificates and other hospital information...the doctor hesitates because Rick is giving Dr. Johnson a look that could kill.

"Well maybe we can put those forms on the back burner for now. But we will need to fill out the paperwork for their names. Please tell the nurse and we will note it in the file for the girls."

"I will, and thanks Dr. Johnson."

Rick makes his way to the nursery and peeks though the glass searching. Before long he spots his girls. A seasoned nursing supervisor raises her hand up towards the glass and gives Rick the come hither motion with her index finger. He moves to the door that leads to the entry way for the nursery. His wrist ID is scanned as he enters the room by another nurse. He then walks up to the nurse who told him to come in.

"Mr. Rodgers, first let me say that I'm so sorry for your loss."

"I'm sorry what was your name?"

"My apologies Mr. Rodgers, I'm Jennifer Groh. I am in charge of the nursery."

"Thank-You Jennifer for your kind words. I'm here to fill out the forms for the birth certificates and maybe hold them for a minute or two."

"That's a great idea. I'll roll one over. Right over there we have a couple of rocking chairs for the patients to use while they are here.

"That will be fine, thanks.

As Rick rolls the baby's bassinet over to the rocking chair, he notices that this twin was the first twin to be born. This makes his decision easier. He names her Olivia. The second twin he will name Alyssa. Jennifer brings the second bassinet to him and he settles them both into his arms and rocks them gently back and fourth, as a lone tear glides down his cheek one day he will tell them what happened the day they were born and how their mom had made the ultimate sacrifice.

 **Thoughts? Please review. Continue or not?**


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken a lot of convincing on his part, but Rick somehow talked his daughters to go back to sleep until he was ready to leave for work. Somehow a bribe was involved although he doesn't know if they were they ones doing the bribing. He shaves, and showers and gets dressed. Knowing that this case will be the first thing he faces this morning. His only hope is that the captain has not yet arrived at the 12th so he can at least get a jump on what Espo and Ryan might have found out. It's not that he can't get his head into any case, it's just that with his captain always wanting an update every 15 minutes he finds that his time is better spent investigating than explaining what he has pieced together.

Rick pours himself a travel mug of his favorite coffee. Kona coffee. It always makes him think of Hawaii when he drank it. Sure it was expensive, but it was so worth it. That's why he only had a cup once a week. Walking up to his daughters door he knocked twice and waited for a reply. Not hearing anything he gently pushed between the door and the door frame to find them still sleeping. He could be a really mean dad and make all sorts of noise and scare them half to death, but after thinking about it, he decided not to torture them.

"Girls, come on it's almost 7 am. The bus will be here in 20 minutes. Chop, chop. Let's get going."

"Cmon dad just 5 more minutes." Alyssa pleads.

"Yeah, dad." Olivia agrees.

"Nope, now let's get out of bed. If you don't the next step will be the cold water treatment."

Rick has never seen them get up and out of bed so fast in his life.

"That's better. So I will see you two after work okay?"

"Yeah, dad. I love you, me too dad."

"Remember Pam will be here in about 10 minutes and she will be here when you get home. If you need any help with homework or a project let her know. I should be back by 5:30 or 6 depending what I can have done by the end of the day."

"Okay dad, have a great day!" He broke into a large smile. His girls were his life. He would do anything for them. He made his way to the subway to catch the next one to the 12th. He thought of a possible motive for the case he was working, but he needed to see what Espo and Ryan found out before seeing if his theory will pan out or not. As he walks to the lobby of the precinct it's just as he likes it when he walks in. He throws a nod to the desk sergeant and takes the stairs two at a time. He moves the little magnet by his name to the "in house" column and walks over to the digital smart board that sits near all of their desks. He touched it gently and it comes to life. Seeing that his partners have added the information from yesterday's interviews he reads the witnesses statements. Taking the information and sitting down at his desk he pulls out a file and reads it totally oblivious at what is going on around him.

"How long has he been like that?" Ryan asks Espo.

"Hard to say, Kev, the man was already here when I got here at 7:15. You know what I think? I think he left and then came back after we all called it a night. Now that would not surprise me at all."

"Come on Javi, There's no way. He has two kids."

"I'm just sayn..."

"I did not leave and come back Espo"

"Okay boss then what's got you here so early?"

"You know, I do like to get some work done without any distractions...especially from the two of you." Rick shows a small smile towards them.

"Come on Rodgers, we complete you. You know this to be true. Without us your just a paper pusher." Javi could give as good as he got. Kevin snickered at his comment and then turned away at the sound of the captain calling Rick.

"Rodgers, my office NOW!"

"Man, what did you do now? He sounds beyond pissed! Espo says hoping to keep the heat off of himself. Rick just shrugs his shoulders and gives him a worried look. On the inside, he is smiling knowing Roy the way he does it's nothing bad...or so he hopes. He gets up from his desk and goes over to the captains office.

"Captain, you bellowed?"

"Rodgers get your ass in here and sit down now...and close the damn door while you're at it!"

As Rick closes the door the boys hear him come back with a snappy "Yes Sir!"

"Well now that's done with, how many more times do you want me to do that? You know that I've been stringing them along for the last 3 years."

"Come on Roy, you like doing it...right?"

"Yeah, but that's beside the point. I am going to start toning in down. They actually fear me, and I'm not like that Rick!"

"Jeez Roy, calm down. Okay just forget it. If I even give a reason for you to be pissed at me then you can really unload on me. No more kidding around anymore."

Rick makes a move to get up and leave. But before he can actually get up Roy tells him to sit back down.

"Rick I just ended a phone call with 1PP. It seems that we will be adding to our squad. There will be a freshly promoted detective reporting here soon."

Rick already did not like Roy's tone. There was something he was keeping from him.  
"Roy, what aren't you telling me?"

"What Rick, I'm just telling you that we will have more manpower to get some of this backlog cleared. You know all the cold cases."

"Well, that's a relief. Whoever it is will be assigned to the cold case files under Sargent Big Mouth."

"Rick watch it. Peterson is a good guy, and he takes a lot of the undesirables off your hands little do you know. So tell me, Rick, when was the last time you actually had a partner?" Roy asks.

"Ohhhh no you don't Roy. I work fine without a partner. I have been for the last 5 years. And anyway I have the brothers Grimm out there, so you don't need to dump this newbie into my lap."

"Rick, we both know that it's way past time. You need to be kept in line and she will be doing just that."

"WAIT, she's a girl?"

"She" usually means a member of the opposite sex Rick."

"Come on Roy, don't be funny. I really don't need the stress of having a newbie and trying to solve this case or any case for that matter."

Rick, she's yours so you had better get used to it"

Well, thanks for at least giving me the heads up. When does she report? In a couple of days right?"

Roy shakes his head and says "wait for it."

Just then there's a knock on his door and Rick's face turns white as a sheet. Slowly he turns and takes her in through the half glass door and then he snaps his head back to Roy. "Your freaking kidding me right now, right?"

"Nope, I ain't. Enter." Roy yells and then the door opens and in walks a young 20 ish woman. Short reddish/brown hair hazel eyes, and she stands about 6 feet tall. She approaches front and center raises her hand in a snappy salute and says, "Detective Beckett reporting for duty sir!"

Rick's head lands into his hands. Roy tells the new detective to go out into the bullpen and take the desk closest to Detective Rodgers and get her desktop computer set up. Someone will be with her shortly to guide her through the rest of the check-in procedure.

The new detective leaves and that's when Rick lets loose.

"Roy she was wearing 6-inch pumps. Do you know what she's going to need to do to actually run down a perp? I'm not going to be her wardrobe adviser."

"Rick give her a chance. This is all new to her. She came from patrol and she is the fastest cop to actually make detective second grade."

"Wait, second grade! Who does she know? No one jumps from a beat cop to second grade."

"Well, she did. She's smart Rick, she placed in the top 5% of her academy class and she was number one in her graduating class when it came to hand to hand combat."

"Roy she has no investigating skills what so ever. And why is she not with Narcotics or Organized Crime? Don't tell me she has an in with someone. No one gets assigned to homicide their first time out."

"Rick just deal with it. The other units were overmanned. So that's why she is here. Dismissed Detective! And be nice to her!"

Rick gets up and mumbles something inaudible under his breath as he walks by Roys desk.

"What was that detective? I did not catch all of it."

"I was saying I hope she at least knows how to reload her Glock."

Roy gives him a look and waves him out of his office and as a parting quip he says

"And I want results for the double homicide like yesterday!"


	3. Chapter 3

Earlier that morning...

Presentation was everything. And there she was standing in her apartment in front of her full lengthen mirror. Contemplating. Procrastinating. And rethinking. She had started out with a skirt and a blouse. Dark blue for the skirt and a white blouse. When she did not like the looks of that she went with the same top but changed into a pair of black dress pants. When that looked hideous she went with a cream colored top and grey dress pants with a blazer. Leaving the blazer opened she thinks she nailed it. Now shoes. Flats? Ankle high? Boots? Way too many choices, so she settled on a pair of her favorites...Jimmy Choo's. They were 6" stilettos and they were worth every penny. Thinking that today would be all about meeting the guys and her captain she thought that actually chasing a suspect down was low on the list. She happily looked at herself in the mirror once again now this was her look. Not too bold, but just enough to be taken seriously. She picked up her gold shield and clipped it to her waistband did the same with her gun and started to head out.

Rick took pause as he reached the doorway wanting to comment on the progress of the case to Roy. He had thought just a little better of opening his mouth before he would say something he knew he would regret. Walking back out to his desk Espo gives him a look. He just looks at the new detective finishing up with her computer.

"Boss what's going on?"

"Well, apparently we need another detective helping us out." Rick takes a seat at his desk.

"Who her?" Ryan asks hoping it's not the case.

"Guys, yes it's her. She is a newly promoted detective second grade. Right off the street."

""You know I can hear you right?" Kate voices her disdain.

"Yeah I know your there, and you do have ears but I don't have to like it!" Rick shoots back.

"Wait a minute, she's a second?" Ryan asks.

Yup, I'm afraid so Ryan." Rick confirms.

"So she's a newbie and she outranks me?"

Kate realizes that maybe becoming a detective was not the career path she should have selected. But this work was what she always wanted to do, this type of work recieved justice for the people who needed it the most, the families. She found it interesting, so much so that her Lieutenant from Vice had pushed for her to take a look into the test and even wrote her a letter of recommendation for the last spot in the testing cycle for detective. She was thrilled when she aced the test and was able to quickly pick up the different techniques that were offered in the course. Before she could be taught the differences between proper investigating procedures and ones that went nowhere, she had come up with an alternate way to show the instructors her ideas on finding the evidence in another way. This new procedure had them scratching their heads, until she explained it to them once again. Then they understood her reasoning. It earned her a fast track promotion to detective second grade. Her technique was now going to be a standard practice within the department.

But right now she was not making friends. Male ego and the like. She needed to be more understanding towards their resentment of her. So she will try to be more approachable.

"Detective Rodgers, the captain told me that you will be walking me through the rest of the check-in procedures right?"

"That's correct detective Beckett. Is your terminal all set up?"

"Yes, but I need to wait until the server accepts my new passwords."

"Okay, then while that's happening I should give you the dime tour."

"Do you have change for a quarter?"

"Pffft, really a joke now? Listen detective, I don't know who you know in the NYPD, but myself and my team are no nonsense when it comes to working cases. We put in the time, find the direction we need to go in and solve the case and we 9 times out of 10 go above and beyond. And yes we have our downtime AFTER we close a case, so please try not to get in the way."

"Detective Rodgers, first of all I was just trying to break the ice. I am not the type of person who walks around with a stick up her ass, I do have a sense of humor! I was just trying to be part of YOUR team. As for knowing someone in the NYPD, I am all alone in that fact. I am by myself. There is no magical hook like some other people I know have, so if I do anything there will be no one to bail me out if things go sideways. So try to be a little more considerate." For some reason he can't take his eyes off her ass after the stick it in comment she had made.

Rick looks up at her and realizes that he might have gone too far and misjudged her. She is young maybe 23 or 24, but she has balls and he thinks that she will go far in the department.

"Alright detective, here are the ground rules. You will do whatever I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it then after a couple of weeks I will reassess how you are doing, then and only until then I see that you can handle yourself I will loosen up a little. My personal life is none of your concern. I am not a sharer. I will not look to you for a woman's point of view or for partner bonding either. As for Espo and Ryan you will have to ask them if they want you to interfere with their lives. Me, I'm off limits. Got it?"

"Wow now look who has a stick up their ass." "Funny detective very funny, remember personal life off limits! I mean it."

"Copy that loud and clear."

"Okay so about that tour, let's get you familiar with the 12th precinct." Rick brings Kate all through the precinct and shows her where everything from the mini-armory to where the holding cells are.

"Interview # 1 is here and this is interview #2. #2 is a bit bigger than #1 so taking a suspect into #1 and turning up the heat will be to your advantage." Kate understands his meaning right away.

"When you take a suspect into either room there is a lock box to secure your weapon BEFORE you enter the room with the suspect. Most of us just leave our weapons in our desk drawers before we go in there."

"And that's it?"

"Yeah that about covers it...for now. Just remember to keep up with the rules and regs and you will do fine."

"Thanks, Ri...ahh Detective Rodgers."

Rick smiles a bit at her flub. "Anytime detective Beckett."

Kate strolls out to the bullpen after the tour is done. She makes a beeline towards Espo's desk. "Detective Esposito where is detective Ryan?"

Rick throws a glance towards Javi and nods his head. "Detective Beckett you can call me Espo of Javi if you want. Whatever you're more comfortable with. Actually Ryan is running down a lead for the case we are working on now. He should be back in about 20."

"Okay, is there anything I can do?"

"Well actually there is. I need you to run down the phone records for our possible suspect. Give me a 15 day window and make sure that you have a warrant. This is his number." Espo hands her a sticky note.

Kate was happy to be doing something. She would not disappoint.

Rick watches her and as she works he thinks that he will question her procedure later. He knows that what she is doing is mundane and boring work, but it's still important. After a couple of hours go by Rick sits up a little straighter in his chair.

"Detective Beckett, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing well. I have the phone records for our suspect from 15 days ago until today."

"Okay and you did this within the parameters of the law?"

"I did, why do you ask?"

"I did not hear you on the phone obtaining a warrant for said records."

Kate's face drops and turns white as a sheet. She meant to call the judge for the warrant, but in wanting to do a good job she totally forgot to make the call. Now she had to tell him that she screwed up and that the records would probably be tainted.

"Detective Rodgers, I'm sorry. It seems...

Rick clears his throat and she looks up to him. He is holding a writ in his hand.

"Detective, this is a one time thing. So don't get used to having your ass bailed out."

"Detective?" Kate asks.

"In my hand is a warrant signed by Judge Markaway. It's for your authorization to pull the suspect's phone records from his cellular provider."

"I don't know what to say. Thank-You?"

"Listen to me detective. Things happen quickly around here. Try to keep a mental awareness as to where you are in any investigation. It will help you in the long run.

Kate lowers her head in shame. Rick says "Kate, don't do that. You are too beautiful to hide your face. Just try to remember to be aware of what needs to be done." Just after that thought left his lips he knew that it was the wrong thing to say. Totally unprofessional.

Kate looks up at Rick and he is back at doing paperwork, the warrant is leaning up against his outbox for her to add to the suspects file. Taking it she returns back to her desk and files the warrant. As she sits she thinks to herself _He thinks that I'm beautiful?_

Rick leaves his desk for the captain's office. He knocks.

"Enter" Comes the captain's voice.

"Sir, I'm here to give you an update...

"On what Detective the case or the newbie?"

"Take your pick...Roy, can you tell me how did she did at the gun range?"

"She more than likely shot a better score than you did Rick. Why do you ask?"

"I'm thinking about a little field trip. And I just wanted to know if she can play with the big boys."

"Rickkkkkk what are you going to do?" Roy drags out the k in his name not liking what he might have in mind.

"Roy it's fine, I'd never get her hurt purposely on her first day!"


	4. Chapter 4

Later that day Kate had found a rhythm for herself. She was getting the hang of working the paperwork part of a case. After her screw up with the phone records she was assigned to secure a different suspect's financial records. She would not mess this up again. She had the warrant this time and had pulled the records for Ryan. He seemed to be doing all the leg work for the team. When he returned she was going to give him what she found and ask him if he needed anything else that she could help him make his job just a bit easier. Ryan entered the bullpen and pulled along yet another suspect into the first interrogation room. She looks on as he silently nodded to Espo and within a second he was on his feet helping secure the suspect in the room. Cuffed to the table she looked to see how they were doing it. She mentally watched and noted as they stopped at the doorway to the room, secured their weapons in the lock box and then re-cuffed the suspect to the interview table. Then she moved to the viewing room and continued to watch them as they both questioned the suspect. After about two and a half hours, it turned out that the suspect had a strong alibi and was free to go with the warning that he could be called back to be re-questioned later. Ryan had told her that it was getting late and that he and Espo were going to leave for the night.

"Hey Kevin, what about Detective Rodgers? Does he leave now too?"

"Listen, Kate, we do not really get involved with his life that much. He comes to work puts in his time and then goes home. Sure he tries to raise everyone's hopes around here with something he saw or heard by telling us what it was, maybe a joke here and there but, for the most part, he keeps to himself. So there are times when he has pulled an all-nighter after we had left. Then he usually stays for the day after staying all night to make sure we work safely. It's just in his nature. He cares about us...too much if you ask me but he is there for us when we need him."

Kate never thought that there were still people in the world like him, and especially in the NYPD. Your first impressions usually give you a heads up about someone, this was not the case with Rick.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow Kate?"

"Sure thing Kevin. Have a good night."

"You too."

/\/\/\/\

Rick knew that the new detective was green. He started calling her the "new detective" ever since the beautiful comment he made to her yesterday. No, he could not let this get the better of him. He was not going to walk down that road. So from now on it was a professional working relationship between them. As he sat at his desk thinking of how to track down this new suspect, then he had an idea. He could get in contact with his C.I. and see if he had any information for him. His C.I. always had information on the people in this neighborhood. It's just that he was always looking for more and more incentive for that information. But Rick figured that it was cash well spent if the intel was solid. Espo and Ryan arrived at the precinct within minutes of each other.

At first he thought it was planned, and he thought they would make some kind of crazy time off request so he waved them both over to his desk.

"Guys listen I have a couple of things that we need to do today regarding this case."

"What do you have in mind?" Espo asked.

He wanted to let Kate experience for herself in dealing with a C.I. So he told the boys what they were going to do. They waited in the break room for her to get in. She was early if you consider that 7:45 was early. Rick and the guys usually rolled in between 6:30 to 7:00. She really needed to get in just a little bit earlier. It was an unwritten rule that they followed. Start time was around 7. He would have a talk with her. She hung up her coat, It was not that cold out but hey to each his own.

"Detective Beckett, do you have a minute?"

"Well actually Detective Rodgers I just wanted to run something by Detective Esposito about the case is that okay?"

"Sure. Just come and see me when you're finished."

Kate starts talking with Javi and soon Kevin joins the conversation. They are done talking and they all nod in acceptance. Kate walks over to Rick's desk.

"So Detective, I think that it's time that you interacted with your public."

Kate looked to him with a puzzled face. _What are we going to do now?_ She thought to herself.

"Detective Rodgers, I'm ready. What did you have in mind?"

"Okay let's rally the troops. Espo, Ryan. Front and center."

"What's up boss? They both ask in unison.

"You and Ryan are going to head out to this address." he hands Espo the address on a post-it note.

"Then myself and the new detective will be heading over to see a C.I. by the name of Julina. When we're done I'd like to meet at the Starbucks on West Huston and West Broadway. Then we will regroup and I'll even spring for the coffee."

"Okay boss sounds good." Kevin and Javi turn away and head out to the address that Rick had given them.

Kate stands there watching Rick. "Well, detective are you ready?

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Well, where I come from I use a real gun, usually one loaded with real bullets that I can shoot at a real suspect if the need arises. Not my index finger and thumb." As Rick pats the butt of his Glock .45 in its holster resting on his hip.  
Kate phantom's a feel at her hip and her eyes go wide. She left her gun in her desk drawer. Duh.

"Detective, can you give me a second?"

"Sure Detective, I'll be by the board updating our status. Don't be long." Rick cracks a small smile and turns to the away board and moves their magnets to "out of house."

Kate catches up quickly. She now has her weapon secured to her hip. He turns to her and he asks if she is ready, and she nods to the affirmative. They both head down to the car to meet with his C.I. in lower Manhattan.

When they arrive at the high-class coffee shop Kate is amazed at her surroundings. She had always thought C.I.'s met you in run-down apartment buildings. Not in a place like this. Rick told her to have a seat in the booth and sit facing the door. He walked up to a tall Hispanic woman in her mid-thirties, hey exchanged small talk and she walked towards where Kate was sitting. As she slid in across from her Kate looked to Rick.

"Hi Detective Beckett, How are you today?" As she asked this she holds out her hand but not for her to shake. She wanted cash. Kate once again looked for Rodgers and she breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that he was walking towards them with three coffees in his hands.

""Detective meet my C.I. Her name is Julina." Rick takes the seat next to Kate and they start asking about the whereabouts of their suspect. After thirty minutes and 100 dollars later, Julina has given them a name and an address. Thinking he needs to move on this information quickly he thanks Julina and he takes Kate by the arm and they bolt for the door. Julina just smiles knowing that her intel will bear very ripe fruit for the pair.

Rick takes a hidden stance at the entrance to the apartment Kate is right near his side as he asked. He really should have Espo and Ryan here with him. But he thinks that Kate will have his back. She's not that that naive she would see if things went bad hell she did walk a beat. He knocks on the door and shout's "NYPD, Robert Evans come out of the apartment with your hands up!" Silence follows his request.

"Last warning Evans, come out now." Again there is silence until they both hear a metallic sound from deep inside the apartment. They look at each other and know that there is a fire escape right outside his window and Evans could possibly take off without them knowing. So against Rick's better judgment he kicks in the front door which splinters away from the frame. Kate has her Glock drawn and Rick does the same. He eyes to Kate to stay close to him but stay at his six so he can move if Evans tries something. They move towards the first room and Kate clears it quickly. Returning back to Rick he has moved past the small kitchen and has pointed his two fingers to his eyes and then to the bedroom to the right. They advance on the bedroom and Kate moves to the left side of the entry door which is closed. Rick is on the right and he tries the door knob. It's unlocked and he swings the door open and they see that the room is empty with only a twin bed in the middle of the room.

Turning back to the hallway Rick thinks that it's too quiet and Evans has left via the fire escape. There are 2 more rooms to clear and as they move towards the second bedroom on the left Kate had momentarily turned her back to check the bedroom to the right and that's when Rick noticed the glint off the knife from the hallway light. He rushed Evans and as he did he shoved Kate out of the way trying to grab the hand that Evans had raised to stick her with the 9" blade. He was quick enough to deflect the blade from its trajectory towards Kate, but he misjudged the strength and momentum of Evan's right arm. It felt like he was being sliced open with a butcher knife. But instead it felt like the blade had just skimmed his side from his waist to the bottom rib of his ribcage. He just stood there motionless until he got his thought process straight in his head. Kate would be vulnerable to his blade if he did not act. He grabbed his right hand and he struggled with Evans. The hand to hand lasted only 30 to 45 seconds before Rick headbutted him and he fell backwards unconscious. Kate was oblivious to what was happening right in behind her. The last thing she was doing before she heard the scuffle was clear the second to last bedroom. As she turned she saw Evans fall to the floor and Rick standing there watching him go down with a smirk on his face. She raised her weapon, but Rick places his hand over it and made her lower it.

"Detective Beckett could you please handcuff the suspect and call Ryan and Espo and have them respond to this address."

"I can, detective Rodgers, is there anything else?"

"Why Yes detective there is I think that there is a very good chance that I will be needing a ride to the hosp...

As Rick went down he was holding his right side. Then she noticed the dark red puddle of blood at his right foot. It had flowed from his side down his pants to the floor. There was so much blood on the floor she thought he lost at least half his volume just standing there. And there was major damage. The blood was too dark to be just a flesh wound. It was like all her training had kicked in all at once. She tried to catch him as he went down, but all she managed to do was to slow him down as he fell. She laid him down on the floor and tried to stop the never ending flow of blood that was coming out of his side. She ripped the rest of his shirt away from the wound and she was shocked to see the size of the wound. It looked like he was a gutted fish. The slice started at his waist and went clear up to his ribs. She could even see his last rib bone exposed. Then there were the internal organs that were threatening to ooze out of his gut. She took what was left of his shirt and tied the sleeves around his waist and pulled hard to make them meet so she could tie them off. It worked, but he groaned a lot when she did this. At least his insides would stay in now.

Next she tried to close the wound off. But before she thought about doing that she pulled out her cuffs and cuffed Evans to the heater pipe near the radiator. She pulls out her cell and calls Ryan. She tells them to respond to their address and gives it to him. She also tells them to call a bus to this location also. Now he is worried.

"Kate what happened?"

"Ryan just get the god damned bus here!"

"Okay, It will be there before we will so just sit tight."

"I will." She responds in a frightened voice.

 **A/N: Sorry, this one got away from me. I hope the people who are following and have faved this story are happy with this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

With Espo driving it only took him and Ryan about 8 minutes to get to Kate and Rick who were about 24 blocks away from them. The only thing that saved them was the fact that traffic was light. They both jump out of the car and head into the apartment. They scan the rooms until they see Kate hovering over Rick. Ryan runs down the hallway where he sees a handcuffed Evans.

"Kate, is that guy secured?"

"Kate snap out of it! Is he cuffed to something?"

"Kevin it all happened so fast. One second I was ahead of Rick clearing that room and the next thing I see is him falling as he is telling me to cuff Evans and that he might need a ride to the hospital"

Kevin knows what is happening to Kate. She is going into shock and he needs to take care of her before she completely melts down. He sees that the suspect is secured to the heater pipe so he takes her away from the crime scene and sits her down by the kitchen table with Rick out of her view.

"Kev, where is that bus. We called this in more than 10 minutes ago, and we got here before it did?" Javi moved in to see if there was anything else he could do while they waited for the ambulance to get there. He worked on keeping Ricks blood in his body. Not that what he was doing would have helped, but at least he was doing something. As if on cue they both hear the screaming of a siren getting louder.

"Javi, go out and direct them in here. I'll stay with Kate."

"Hey Bro, how's she doing?"

"Listen, Javi she's going to need some help, she's almost catatonic. She has completely shut down."

"Damn. Well, we can take her to see the department shrink. Unless you think it's more of a medical thing?"

"Javi, I think we should have her seen by the ER first and then wait until they make an assessment."

"Okay, good call. Here come the EMT's! I'm stepping back."

The EMT's rush in to take care of Rick and then one of them asks what the hell happened here? This man is almost dead. He has lost 75% of his blood volume. Quickly picking up the two-way radio he calls into the ER at the hospital. He tells them what they need to have in place when the arrive with this patient. Blood, universal type O-Neg and they would need a lot of it. He finishes with the call and his partner has Rick on the gurney ready to roll him back to the rig. They pass Kevin and Kate and the EMT tells him to get her into the rig with them. They will bring them both to the ER. Kevin wastes no time getting her up and into the rig. It takes about 5 minutes for the ambulance to get Rick to the hospital, and he is still breathing when they roll him into the ER. Kate has done or said nothing since the stabbing. Kevin takes her from the EMT and moves her over to a doctor who's not busy taking care of other patients.

Rick is rushed to the OR after he is treated quickly in the ER. Kate is in with the ER doctor and she now is at least talking. Javi shows up after telling the attending doctor what happened. He walks over to his partner.

"Kevin, one of us is going to have to call Captain Montgomery and tell him about this."

Javi, I'll give him a call after the doc finishes with Kate. Maybe by then we could have an update on Rick before we call him."

"Sounds like a plan." They both take a seat opposite Kate who is becoming more and more animated. Talking and remembering more as time goes by. It's about an hour later and Kevin tries to get an update on Rick before he makes the call to the Captain.

"Excuse me Nurse Williams, but I was hoping that you could give me an update on one of our detectives that was admitted to the OR about 2 hours ago?"

"Detective Ryan is it?"

"Yes, ma'am that's right."

"Okay, I can tell you that he is still in surgery. He will more than likely need to be kept sedated for about 3 to 4 days following the surgery. His wound required that parts of his large intestine and part of his small intestine needed to be removed. And since his intestine had actually left his abdominal cavity he will be watched very carefully for infection and to make sure that the intestines properly settle inside the abdominal wall again. He's a very lucky man."

"Nurse Williams, thank you so very much."

"Anytime detective."

Ryan pulls out his phone and hates what he will need to do next. He leans up against the wall opposite the vending machines that offers some kind of quiet reprise. His thumb presses the number for the captain's office.

"Captain Montgomery."

"Hey, Captain it's Ryan."

"Ryan what took you so long to make this call?"

"Captain?"

"You don't think I would not find out that a detective assigned to my command was sliced open on my watch?"

"Actually Sir we were waiting for an update from the doctors and I wanted to wait until I had a better idea on Detective Rodgers injuries and surgery before actually informing you."

"Uh Huh. So let's have it. How is he doing?"

"Well, he is still in surgery and he will need to be kept in a medically induced coma until his body can fight off any infection. Kate is much better now...at least she is talking again."

"Oh shit, I forgot all about her. Ryan get her an appointment with the NYPD shrink, right now! Don't wait, have her seen right now. I want her to be at okay with Ricks attack. If you let her go too far without having her see a professional, who knows what might happen!"

"Yes Sir, I'm on it!" Kevin ends the call with Roy. He then talks to Javi and tells him what they need to do. Then they wait for the ER doc to finish with Kate.

Roy has seen first hand what happens when a partner sees his or her partner injured or even killed in the line of duty. They need to get out in front of this for Kate. He will not let what happened to the memory of his partner go by unaccounted.

\/\/\/\/\/\/

" _Roy take the back door I'll take the front door. Give me a 5 count and then rush the rear entrance. I'll come in through the front and announce us."_

" _Alright Ronnie, I have the back." Roy heads to the back entrance. He stops and counts to 5 and then bursts through the rear door. But it seems that he is either too late or too early. He doesn't see Ronnie anywhere. Confused, he backtracks and looks to the rear room. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary he makes a u-turn and starts walking back towards the front entry way. His weapon in his hand down by the side of his thigh. Then he hears it. The shots ring out and he is running, so fast that he collides with the shooter, gets knocked on his ass and the shooter gets away. He quickly gets to his feet and is looking for Ronnie. He hopes for the best, but then he sees him sitting up against the couch, his lifeless eyes opened just staring out the window. He crashes to his knees and just stares at his friend. Two bullet holes are embedded into his chest. Direct hits to his heart. He never knew it was coming. Two hours later detective Roy Montgomery is placed onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the house en route to the hospital. Still in shock he has not said a word to anyone. Not one soul. It will take months before he is allowed to return back to work._

So to say the least, Roy has been where Kate is now. She will need support, and if he reads Ricks actions towards her right... there is more than meets the eye between the two of them. He just hopes he can open up to her.


	6. Chapter 6

Knowing that Kate and Rick were in good hands at the hospital, he needed to make one last call. One he was going to regret making. Pulling out his cell he hit the speed dial list for # 8. Waiting for it to connect he tried to think of an explanation that would work. The call connected and the voice said "Hello." pulling his from his thoughts, It's now or never.

"Pam? Hi, it's Roy."

"Roy there better be a good reason you are calling me in the middle of Rick's shift."

"Pam, are you sitting down?"

"Roy, cut the crap! What happened out there today? And is he okay?"

"Pam it's really not that bad. A suspect had Rick cornered in a hallway and when the suspect went after the rookie detective, Rick maneuvered around her and placed his own body in harm's way. He actually saved her life!"

"Roy that's bullshit and you know it. Rick would do anything for ANY member of his team. So don't make him out to be the saint every time he gets hurt, it's getting to be pretty thin! One of these days you are going to regret making one of these phone calls Roy!."

"Pam he will be in recovery for the next couple of hours. Will you want to bring the twins down to see him after he comes to?"

"I will Roy but not probably not until tomorrow, they have homework tonight and classes tomorrow. But I will tell them what happened later tonight. Tomorrow I can pull them out of school by 2 and we should be there around 3."

"Thanks, Pam, you know that he will appreciate this."

"Yeah, Roy, whatever you say."

The call disconnects abruptly. Roy knew that she would be tense, but not this tense. It hurt him and he knew that it hurt her too. She had received a call from him about 2 years ago. It started almost the same way, but the end result was far more devastating. Her husband, one of Rick's best friends was killed while he was on a stakeout. The suspect had noticed the cops watching his place and he approached the car with his gun drawn. They had no notice at all. He just opened up on the both of them sitting in the car. There was no time for them to react. The suspect had killed them both right there on the street in their car. Roy really hated his job at times.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Kate was making progress with the NYPD psychologist. She already had 4 appointments under her belt with her and was feeling better about what happened the day Rick was stabbed. The therapist had kept telling her that she was not the one at fault, however she needed to keep a better eye on her surroundings when entering into any dangerous situation. Rick was also coming along well. His wound was healing nicely. He was about 3 days from being released from the hospital entirely. Kate had visited him many times while she was off for her own medical reasons. So much so that Pam could see that there was something more going on between them. One afternoon when she was getting ready to leave she decided to see what exactly was going on.

"Rick I'll catch you later and I'll bring you something clean to wear for tomorrow."

"Thanks Pam, I'm not sure what I'd do without you helping me out and from making a lot of stupid mistakes with the twins."

"Rick that's what I'm here for and you know this."

Just as she finished her statement Kate was walking into his room with a wide smile plastered on her face. She looked at Pam and she left his room. Letting the door shut she leaned up against the wall and listened to what was being said in his room.

"So Detective Rodgers, how are you feeling today?"

"Kate, please. You know that you only need to address me as Detective Rodgers when we are out in the public eye or at the 12th. When we're alone you can call me Rick." Kate's smile got even bigger if that was even possible.

Pam was shocked. When did this come about. Rick was not the one to start something with anyone...ever, it was not in his nature. And she wondered why he was keeping it a secret from everyone. She hung around the doorway listening until a nurse had tried to enter the room.

"Hey honey, can I help you with anything?"

Pam replied, "No Ma'am, I was just leaving."

Pam turned and left as the nurse entered Rick's room. Just as the nurse entered Kate jumped off Rick's bed and released his hand then moved to the wall opposite his bed.

"Am I interrupting anything?" The nurse asks the both of them. She notices Kate's face blushing knowing that she was caught.

They both reply "no." at the same time. The nurse looks at the both of them trying to hide the fact that they were just about to have sex in his bed.

Two days later after the same nurse has processed Rick's final paperwork he is now free to leave. A wheelchair arrives and he is instructed to take a seat in the chair. Otherwise he will not be leaving the hospital. He complies, not liking it one bit but he does it anyway. He is taken to the front entrance of the hospital where Pam and the girls are waiting for him with the car.

"Hey, guys!" Rick says.

"Hey dad, are you free?" Olivia asks.

"Yes, they finally got sick of me. So here I am." Rick says as he gets up out of the wheelchair and thanking the person who brought him there.

Pam just looks at him. She knows that he and Kate have a secret and she wonders how long he will keep it from his children. Pam decides to stoke the fire just a little.

"Come on Rick we all know that you are not the easiest patient to take care of...it seems that there was only one person who could see to your needs." Pam was pushing the envelope, but hell what did she have to loose, maybe he would give it up, maybe not. She still hoped he would.

"Pam, what on earth are you talking about? I was the model patient. I don't know what you mean."

Pam just looks her brother right in the eyes. Knowing that he is keeping something from her. But for now enough is enough. She will let him have this small victory, but tomorrow all bets are off.

"Pam I need to stop by the pharmacy to get a prescription filled for my antibiotics. So hit the pharmacy in So-Ho on the way back."

"Okay Rick." Pam gets behind the wheel and they leave for the pharmacy. As she pulls away from the curb she notices a figure moving to the middle of the sidewalk. It's Kate and she looks very sad. Pam was thinking about stopping, but changed her mind when Rick shot her a look. So she kept on moving.

Kate wonders why he did not stop. Was it the fact that he wanted to keep what they had together away from everyone? If that's the case he should have told her. The last week they were together was the best time of her life. At first they could not stand each other. But after talking together they noticed that they had a lot in common with each other. And that talking led to getting better with each others feelings. Something he was reluctant with at first, but he softened quickly. It started out when she came to see him to thank him for saving her life. As usual he shrugged it off telling her that it was just his duty to keep her safe. He would do this for any person on his team. She listened to him as she sat on his bed and before long she was totally hooked on his every word. That's when their dynamic had changed for the better.

Her hand absentmindedly moved to his and she interlocked their fingers together. It wasn't until his volunteer had entered with his lunch that he realized his hand was occupied by hers. He looked at her and she immediately blushed and quickly let go of his hand. Since that day they figured that acting badly towards each other before the stabbing was just a defense mechanism for each of them. They actually did like each other. But now she was hurt by how he left her standing on the sidewalk outside of the hospital without as much as an explanation as to why.

Pam felt like crap after she thought about Kate standing in the middle of the sidewalk looking so heartbroken. So she took matters into her own hands. She looked on the front seat and noticed Rick's phone and quickly went through his contacts until she found her number. She entered her number into her phone and returned his phone back to where it was. She was done just as he came out of the pharmacy. The ride home was silent. She was not going to bring up Kate.

"Rick I have some things to take care of at home. Will you and the girls be okay until I get back in the morning?"

"Pam, I am not working for the next two weeks. So, I think we will be fine. Why don't you try to sleep in tomorrow?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll give you a call tomorrow okay?"

"Okay, Hey thanks again Pam."

"Anytime Rick!"

Pam gets home and before she has the time to even settle down and relax she is dialing Kate's number...


	7. Chapter 7

The phone rings for what seems like forever and Pam wonders if this is the right number. Then without warning a winded voice answers the phone.

"Hello," Kate asks seeing that the number on her display is unfamiliar to her.

"Hi Kate, It's Pam. Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Oh hey Pam, actually I just got done with my shower."

"Do you want me to call you back?"

"Could you please, unless it's something really important."

"No Kate, this can wait."

"Okay, then I'll call you when I'm finished. Is this is your number on my caller ID?" Kate asks.

"Yes, I'll be waiting for your call, thanks." Pam ends the call. Now she has time to think up how she is going to ask Kate what's going on with her and Rick. They actually do make a cute couple she thinks to herself. Pam waits and waits. And then she waits a little more. At first she thinks Kate may have forgotten about returning her call. So she decides to go through today's mail and toss the junk mail and keep the bills. However, she thinks it should be the other way around. As she finishes that task she moves to start cleaning yesterday's dishes. It never fails, though, halfway through washing the dishes her phone starts to ring. Drying her hands and rushing over to the phone that sits on the coffee table across from the love seat she sits and she slides the phone lock off, then slides the green button to answer.

"Hello?" Pam answers, not recognizing the number that's calling her phone.

"Hi Pam, It's me, Kate Beckett. I'm returning your call."

"Oh, Hi Kate. I'm so glad that you called me back. Do you have time to talk?"

"Well. that depends. Can I ask what this call is about?"

Pam needs to come up with something quick and the only thing that comes to mind is Rick. So she goes for it.

"Kate it's Rick."

Pam hears a sudden intake of air and a gasp on the other end of the line. Realizing now what Kate must have thought

"Kate Noooo. Oh God no, I'm so sorry I did not mean to get you worried or upset. Listen he is fine. Rick's okay!"

Kate finally finds her voice. "Are you sure Pam?"

"Yes, Kate I'm sure. But I did have a question or two about the two of you."

Kate is already not liking the direction this conversation might be going. As she wants to give Pam all the details on what has happened between her and Rick, she is a little apprehensive about doing this. It is after all their relationship, but, on the other hand, she is his sister. Should she tell her how she feels about him?

"Pam, what do you want to know?"

"Kate, can you tell me what it is you are trying to do with Rick?"

Kate takes offense to how Pam refers to what they have. Kate knows that she is fishing for some facts, so she decides to turn the tables a little.

"Pam, while I am a private person, I am not sure how you found out how Rick and I are doing anything at all. So either you have a nurse in your vest pocket or you know someone in the hospital who has spilled to you, I really don't think that this is actually any of your business."

"Kate please understand, I am so happy for the both of you. It has been so long since Rick has had anyone to confide in and I am so glad that it's you. What I did was in the strictest confidence. He needs someone who will be there for him and from what I witnessed the other day..."

Kate thinks for a second before asking because something is not just quite adding up for her...

"Pam what exactly are you talking about?"

"Kate I was there the other day just outside of Rick's room. I heard what he told you about being professional in your workplace but when your alone...

Kate cut her off before she could say anything else. "Listen, Pam, I am glad that you were listening in on what we were talking about earlier this morning, but in a way I'm not."

Pam almost drops her phone, "Kate what do you mean?"

"Pam it's been killing me to tell someone about what we have between us"

"So Kate, it is true?"

"Pam I just want to be clear with you about your brother and me. I have feelings for him that I have never had before with any other man. I might want to add that there have not been that many of them either...men I mean"

"Kate you don't know how happy this makes me!"

"Pam I will never hurt him, but he seems to me like he is holding back how he feels towards me."

"Kate. what do you know about Rick's wife Coleen?"

"Pam, why does this matter? I know that she was the love of his life and this is why he had hidden his feelings from anyone who tried to get close to him. I have come to understand this and I'm okay with it. But I thought that I had broken down his defenses about what he felt for me just a little."

"Kate, while I am so happy that you have made my brother come alive once again, and you're right he is not totally committed to you and how YOU feel about him."

"Pam, please don't tell me that you think he will break up with me."

"Listen Kate I don't know all that's exactly going on with the both of you, but I can tell you that he has never acted this way with ANY woman. You are probably the only woman to even make him talk this way in a long, long time."

"Pam, do you like coffee?"

Pam wonders why she would ask a lame question like this until it hits her square in the face. "Kate, of course, I love coffee, Why?"

"Well, I think a face to face is what we need. You are the closest to Rick and I really need to pick your brain."

"Kate I couldn't agree with you more, Where and when?"

"There is a cafe that has a great cup of coffee near your apartment. Let's meet there in 10 okay?"

"Yeah Java Jo's right?"

"That's the place, see you in 10?"

"Sure thing."

Kate ends the call and gets ready to head out. Pam does the same. Arriving at the cafe, Kate finds a seat, but before she does she orders a cafe mocha from the barista. She returns to the seat and waits for Pam.

Less than 2 minutes later Pam is rushing down the sidewalk hoping she is there before Kate is, but she is disappointed when she sees Kate smiling at her through the window.

Pam walks in and Kate tells her that she has ordered a coffee and to order whatever she wants and add it to her bill.

Pam does and both coffees are ordered and picked up by her and she moves to sit at the booth Kate is sitting at.

"Kate it's really nice to see you again. I just wish I had something good to tell you."

"Pam, please tell me everything that Rick had to deal with with Coleen on that sad day and the aftermath that followed."

"Kate, this is a sad story so are you sure you want to hear this?" Pam had asked hoping Kate wanted to hear how Rick and Coleen had once been together.

"Well, Kate that day started out to be a normal day for the both of them. After Rick had said good bye to Coleen and left for work she was doing a little light house work and sometime around 10:30 that morning her water broke. They had planned for this happening. So she placed a call to Rick at the precinct and took a cab to the hospital. Rock jumped into the radio car and was there before Coleen had arrived. They entered the hospital together and he started the waiting game."

Kate listened in not wanting Pam to stop.

"So they were there about 6 hours into the labor when Coleen was ready to deliver the twins. She had told Rick to go and update their parents with what was happening up until that point, and then everything went to hell. It's what Rick really hates to talk about the most because it's the last time he had seen Coleen alive. He returned to the delivery room and his second daughter was already having her APGAR test preformed by a nurse. It was not until he looked over at where the doctor was and he had called his wife's time of death. That's when he had fallen to his knees and cried until the nurse had taken him over to the nursery and introduced him to his daughters."

"Pam I never knew. Is this why he never got involved with anyone after the twins were born?"

"Kate, for the most part, I am sure that this was the reason for how he shut down, but you have brought out something in him that had opened up his heart once again...

 **Reviews are greatly appreciated, so please indulge me!**


	8. Chapter 8

Kate had been listening to Pam on the phone going on about how she Kathryn Beckett had released Richard Rodgers from some kind of spell he was under. She wanted to tell his sister that he was under no such spell to start with and she had done nothing to release him from anything. He was just a man who had lost everything within a matter of minutes. This is what she felt was hurting him so much.

Kate's mind had drifted off to Rick. She had yessed Pam almost to death. When the time came in the conversation they were having she simply inserted the appropriate automatic response to whatever question she was asking. She wanted to get back to Rick. She needed to talk to him and she wanted to do it now. She looked down at her bunny eared slippers and her white NYPD t-shirt that had the saying on it "The person wearing this shirt is a Police Officer, Now lie flat on your back and do everything the nice police officer tells you to do." And she had hoped that Rick would want to take their relationship to the next level but since she was left standing in the parking lot of the hospital when he was released she had her doubts. She was a bit reserved at first, they really hated each other, but after he was stabbed things had taken a turn for the better between them. Granted it was not a love, at first sight, type of feeling, but they were more civil to each other when she had come to visit him. She was wondering if she...

"KATE, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?" Pam yelled into the phone.

"Pam I'm so sorry, I was just thinking to myself."

"What about Kate?"

Deciding that she was HIS sister she spilled out her thoughts to her.

"Pam, why did he leave the hospital the other day when he knew damn well I was there waiting to see him?"

"Kate listen, I might be the one to blame for what happened that day."

"Pam, what are you saying?"

"Kate I really wanted to stop and let you talk to Rick, but he gave me a look that I really did not want to challenge. You know the saying if looks could kill?"

"Pam listen, I know that you are looking out for him but I think I am really falling in love with him. He is everything I am looking for in a man and a relationship. I can't describe what I feel for him. Do you think you can understand?"

"Kate I know that you have strong feelings for my brother but are you sure that you love him? It just seems so sudden and I'm not sure that you have considered how he feels."

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rick was wondering how to tell his daughters about Kate. As he sat there in his bedroom getting ready for bed, he thought about not telling them at all. As he fell asleep with this problem on his mind he slept like he was a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sleep never really came to him, maybe in small fits, but it was not a solid block of sleep. There was something in his head when he got up at 8 in the morning that shook him to his inner being. He got up and without thinking about it, he and made his way to the living room where he had kept his scotch in the cabinet next to the entertainment stand. It was too early for the hard stuff, but he had to figure this out. He had not touched a drop since Coleen had passed away all those years ago. Rick was hearing the voice of reason in his head. That voice was telling him a lot of things.

Kate was too young for him. (Was she?) Was she the type of woman that he should introduce to his children. (She could be!) She was maybe just a little too caviler with her attitude towards life. (But, so was he.) He was thinking all these things when after about 2 scotch on the rocks later did he think about how Kate could possibly be feeling. But he needed to listen to the voice in his head. The voice of reason. He could not be allowed to start something with her when he was clearly not over his wife. Physically he had not been with another woman, but emotionally he was still hanging on to her memory. (was he, or was his deceased wife stopping him from being happy once again?) He just needed to talk to her and soon...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Pam, I have considered how he feels. You need to trust me here, I know about the pain he went through when he lost Coleen. We talked about this in a very long gut wrenching conversation last night, and while I am not looking to replace her, I do love Rick."

"Kate, I hope your right."

There is a heavy knock at Kate's door. "Pam give me a second someone is determined to knock my door off it's hinges."

"Okay, Kate."

Kate walks up to the door and eyes the peephole. But all she can see is a thumb covering the hole. So she calls out through the door "Listen, whoever you are you need to let me see you. I'm a cop and you won't get in until you do." She hears a muffled high-pitched "no" and she then says to the mystery person..."Fine then suit yourself. If I don't see you, then you can stand out there all day."

"Kate who's there?" Pam asks still on the phone hearing all that is going on.

Kate raises the phone to her ear and tells Pam that it's probably just some kids at her door, fooling around. Just as she finished her sentence the door jamb splinters into pieces and as the door swings open and it catches Kate off guard. She is thrown to the floor from the impact of the door hitting her body. She is totally unprepared for what is happening here. Her weapon is in the bedroom safe and she is unarmed. Pam hears the door being kicked in and she starts to call Kate's name.

"KATE are you there? Please answer me! KATE"

The phone goes dead and now Pam is stressing. She thinks about what to do or who to contact. Her thoughts go to her brother. She quickly resets her phone and brings up Ricks contact info. Hitting send she waits. On the second ring Rick answers.

"Rodgers"

"Rick it's Pam..."

"Pam what's up?"

"Rick you need to get over to Kate's place ASAP! I think she is being attacked."

"WHAT! Pam, what's going on?"

"Rick someone kicked her front door in as I was talking to her and her line went dead. We had a great signal so I think whoever was going to attack her ended our call. Rick, please help her. She is someone I care for and I don't want to lose her, and I know you don't either so move your ass, Rick!"

Rick hangs up and grabs his weapon and keys and leaves his apartment. He is grateful that the girls are with their friends working on a science project all day. He rushes out and gets behind the wheel. The car roars to life and he is gone. He makes it to her place within 7 minutes. He climbs the stairs to the third floor knowing that the elevator takes forever. He stops dead in his tracks as he sees the damage to the door and frame. He scans the entry way and sees nothing. He cautiously advances and he sees nothing out of the ordinary. He pulls out his Glock and moves into the hallway that leads to her living room. His weapon enters the room first and then so does he. Still nothing is out of place. He hears a moan coming from her bedroom.

Lashawn puts his index finger to his lips indicating for her to keep quiet. She has no reason to speak because he has a special forces serrated knife to her throat. The pain she is feeling is intense and he barely has any pressure on her throat. Rick starts down the second hallway that leads to her bedroom.

"Kate, are you here?"

Rick hears nothing in response. So he tries again.

"Kate, Pam told me that you were feeling sick, are you doing okay now?"

Kate really wants to answer him, but she fears that Lashawn will slice her throat open effectively ending her life.

Lashawn whispers to her "Don't you answer him you bitch if you do I will take out my brothers revenge on your ass!"

"Kate if you remember the Macaluso case then what I say next will get you through this, I promise."

Rick has been watching Kate and Lashawn through the small crack between the bedroom door and the frame. Kate was in a situation where if he moved to quickly she was a dead woman. And still if he took his time to try to save her the same outcome would prevail. He was stuck until he had a thought maybe a little misdirection could work here.

"Kate is the baby okay? Are you feeling a little nauseous from the pre-natal vitamins or maybe it was some of that spicy hot food you ate earlier?"

Still there was no answer from her. But as he looked through the crack he noticed that Lashawn had relaxed his position of the knife at Kate's throat. Kate was able to tilt her head just a little downward and it was then when she noticed a partial view of Rick's face. He throws her a wink and holds up 4 fingers and she nods to him in return...

 **A/N: There will be about 4 or 5 chapters to go with an epilogue. If anyone has a prompt about where this could possibly go then I would like to hear from you. I have a set plot in my head, but I am always looking for a different direction. Thanks, P2P!**


	9. Chapter 9

Rick made his move and Kate had realized this. They were working together like they knew what each other was going to do before they did it. Kate reached for Lashawn's arm the one that had the knife and twisted his wrist. Rick kicked the bedroom door open and to his surprise Lashawn had ended up being just a foot closer to the door and when it swung in it caught the shoulder of his free arm and threw him off balance just enough time for Kate to get the upper hand.

Kate had actually broken his wrist, not that he would know it then, but she wondered if she did this due to the fact that she was pissed at being held as a hostage or was it because she had not realized her own strength. Whatever the cause she had smashed his hand against the bedpost closest to her. The knife fell from his grasp and hit the floor bouncing under her bed and out of his reach. As the door finished swinging open Rick swung the butt of his gun down into the base of Leshawn's skull rendering him unconscious almost instantly. They were a great team together effectively taking down a suspect in about 3 swift moves.

Rick pulls his cuffs out of the leather holder from the center of his back. He secures Leshawn with his hands behind his back and he moves to the bed where Kate is still lying on it with her elbows propping her up.

"Kate, are you okay?"

"Rick, I'm not talking to you!"

Rick looks at her like she's crazy. "Kate why? What's wrong with you? Are you hurt?"

"What's wrong with me, do you really have the balls to accuse me of something that you did and then try to pawn it off on me?"

"Kate please talk to me...tell me what the problem is, please."

"Rick it's real simple. So until you actually use the brain cells that god gave you to figure it out then, and only then you can come and talk to me, so until then take your detainee and get the hell out of my apartment!"

Rick moves away from her bed and while he is moving he is still looking at her. He reaches down and takes a now semi-conscious Leshawn's handcuffed arms and pulls him to his feet. Guiding him out of Kate's bedroom they are met in the hallway by some uniforms who take Leshawn away. Rick really wants to go back to Kate's apartment to talk to her but before he does the younger of the two uniforms want's to know if he wants an ambulance. Rick does a double take and then asks what the beat cop is talking about.

"Sir, there is blood all over your shirt and the waistband of your pants. Should I get a rig here for you?"

Rick moves his hand down to his side and as he lifts it back to his eyes and he sees it's covered with blood. He turns and tells the cop that he will need the a rig after all to bring him to the hospital because he has probably pulled his wound open by being physical with Leshawn. Kate had collected herself and felt a little bad about how she treated Rick earlier. They were partners after all. She looks down at the floor near the end of her bed and noticed drops of blood by the leg of the bed. She follows the trail thinking that Leshawn might have a wound and when she gets out into the hallway she sees Rick already loaded onto a stretcher and being wheeled past her. She rushes to the side of the stretcher and asks

"Rick, what happened? Are you okay?"

Rick answers her with the iciness she had shown him with before earlier in her bedroom.

"Kate, why don't you use some of your brain cells and figure it out! It can't be that much of a stretch, even for a detective like yourself." Rick waves the EMT to move to the rig and they pull Rick away from a very humiliated Kate Beckett.

Kate returns back to her apartment thinking all the way back how badly she treated Rick. He was right in treating her coldly just now. She needed to make this right. Only 2 days ago they were still getting to know each other and it was fun and now she wonders how it had spiraled away from them all so quickly. She reaches for her phone and dials Pam's number. The call connects and Pam asks Kate "So Kate how bad is it really?"

"Pam I messed up...royally!"

"Kate let's meet at the same café we had coffee the other day. Would that be okay?"

"Yeah, I can be there in about 30 minutes is that okay with you?"

"Sure Kate I'll see you then."

Pam has an idea, and the more she thinks about the more she thinks it will help these two. So she makes her way to her basement and starts to rummage through her pictures of Rick, Coleen and then the twins right after they were born. She searches until she finds the pictures she has in mind. It's a shot of Rick holding the girls in both arms with a happy look on his face. Then she pulls a copy of Rick looking at Coleen on the delivery bed after she gave birth. It's a morbid picture, and she is unsure where it came from, but she was glad she found it. It was going to be used to prove a point.

Kate arrived before Pam did. She waited to place her order until Pam got there. She had time to think about how mean she was to Rick and thinking back it was not one of her best moments. She knew that they were past being just a pair of teenagers who lusted after each other. They were in love. Just then the small bell above the door chimed and Kate looked up to see Pam walking over to her table.

"Hey Kate, How are you?" Pam asked.

"Pam, I guess I'm doing okay. But let's order a cup and then we can talk okay?"

"Sounds good Kate. I'll have a latte with 2 pumps of peppermint, please."

"Great, I'll be right back." Kate goes to the counter to place their order and within minutes she is back. Taking a seat, she sees an envelope on the table and gives Pam a look.

"Kate you and Rick need to take a step back from each other and reset if the both of you want to become a strong and loving couple. A time out of sorts."

"Pam, I do love him!"

"Kate that's not what I mean. What I mean is that you need to know the story behind them. I am not questioning your love for him, I've never doubted this."

"Then what are you talking about Pam?"

"Kate you need to know that Rick and Coleen were in love with each other. I'm not talking about when let's say at the end of a phone call the couple in love say "I Love You honey" this is common and it is usually just the way to end a conversation before hanging up the phone."

"Okay then tell me what you are talking about."

"Kate they were in love and I mean really in love in every sense of the word. They would give each other their lungs if that what's it took to keep the other alive."

Pam opens the envelope and pulls out the picture of Rick holding the girls gives it to Kate and asks her

"Kate tell me what you see in this picture?"

"Pam this is Rick holding and loving his girls."

"Okay Kate, now tell me what you see in this picture?"

Pam pulls out the second picture from the envelope the one where Rick has a blank expression on his face as he looks on as the last doctor is walking away from Coleens labor bed.

"Pam it looks like Rick has lost everything judging by how he looks in this picture."

"Kate take a closer look."

Kate looks at the picture once again and she does see a difference in his in his look and his stature. He seemed that he was defeated standing there in the delivery room.

"Pam, to me he still looks like he has lost everything. It's like his whole world has come crashing down around him."

"Kate this is the example I'm trying to get across to you. In both of these pictures, my brother is at a crossroads in his life. In the first picture, he is showing his love for his daughters, and he will never, never waver from that. In the second picture, he is showing remorse that he has lost his wife but he is also showing that he is embracing her death, knowing that he will be the only person responsible for what she has given him. So, in essence, he is showing how much he loves her for what they had together."

"Pam that's deep. I never thought about it like that, but I'm still trying to figure out how all this plays into what we have together now?"

"Kate this is simple. He loves you and he can be a jerk sometimes until someone hits him upside his head so he can see the way he should move forward with his feelings."

"Pam, what do I do to fix this?"

Just then as she ended her sentence Kevin and Javi stood beside the table with serious looks on their faces and asked if they could sit down with them..."Kate, we need to talk to you."


	10. Chapter 10

Ryan and Espo both take a seat at the table. Ryan said, "Pam there's something we need to tell you as well."

"What is it, Kevin?" Pam asks a little worried.

"Pam really there's nothing to be worried about. It was the struggle that he was involved in with the suspect at Kate's apartment. When he took him down he reopened the wound from his this guys brothers attack. He is more than likely of surgery by now and will be released the day after tomorrow if everything checks out with the docs."

Kate wishes she could just shrivel up and die. She had been thinking about her own personal life, when she should have told Pam about Rick. She could kick herself now. She then looks to Pam, and Pam looks back at her with an understanding face. She knows.

"So what are the two of you doing here?" Espo asks.

Kate takes the defensive from this question. "Detective Esposito, why should you be concerned?"

"Well, it's like this detective Beckett, we are looking out for our lead investigator, our friend. And we don't want to see him get hurt. Any more than he has been."

Kate just looked at them. Why would they think she would hurt Rick?

"Detective Esposito, why would you think that?"

"Kate we both know that he lost Coleen years ago and he told us many times that he can't get involved with someone new for just this reason, well two in your case."

"Well, okay, Javi what would those two reasons be?" Kate was hoping that being personal with using his first name he would be a little easier on her.

"Well first and foremost the both of you are detectives. While you might be able to get away with dating each other if you were assigned to two different precincts, I don't know if Captain Montgomery can hide something like this."

Ryan chimes in next "Kate I really think that you have feelings for Rick. But just answer this for me, can you be with Rick? I mean really be with him, give him your heart and if it gets broken in the process could you survive it if he could not commit his heart to you?"

Pam can't believe her ears "Are you freaking guys for real? She likes him a lot, a real lot, hell she might even love him...are you TRYING to scare her away!?" Pam is so ashamed to even know the two of them.

"Pam she needs to face facts. Rick has two daughters, he works more than we do on average he puts in about 60 to 75 hours a week. And on top of that, you also need to understand that he always puts his life on the line every day, just ask Kate!"

Kate just sits there taking in all they have said. She does love him, but she really can't risk giving him her heart if he will throw it to the curb and walk all over it. She is torn.

"Guys, can you leave me and Pam alone for about an hour? I have some things I need to ask her. Kinda like girl talk if you know what I mean." Ryan and Espo give her a pissed off look but reluctantly agree.

"Kate we need to write up the report of what happened at your place today. We will be back at the 12th doing just that. We won't tell you that Rick is by now probably out of surgery and in an ICU room until tomorrow until he can be moved to a semi-private room at Mt Sinai hospital."

Kate looks up to the two detectives she sees Ryan smiling and Espo looks a little like he is relieved.

"So Kate, can you believe those two? Men! Sometimes they are so clueless."

"Pam they are not that wrong in their thinking. They see the world a lot differently than we do. I'm sure that they have Rick's best interests at heart. And I am sure that even though they try not to show it they actually love him. And Javi was right. It's going to be a big responsibility to become a mother for his girls. I really never went into the thought process of how hard it will be."

"Kathryn Beckett! I know that you really don't believe that right?"

"Pam, they're right. I am not mother material. Hell, I'm only 28 years old. I barely have that much life experience."

"Kate, listen to me. What you don't seem to have in experience you more than make up for it with love. I have seen this firsthand. Forget Javi and Kevin. Sure they are going to look out for their boss. That's their nature, however affairs of the heart are more of our own battlefield. Trust me on this. Alissa and Olivia already know about you. They have been talking with me about you since I was a jerk and left you standing at the hospital in the middle of the street."

"Pam, what did you do?"

"Kate listen after I returned Rick back to his place, the girls had cornered me and gave me the third degree." Kate looks at her not understanding.

"Okay Pam, go ahead."

"Well, they wanted to know more about you."

"Wait, Me?"

"Kate you don't know how much the girls know about you. They really want to see you

and Rick become more than boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Pam, are you sure about this?" Kate asks.

"Kate they were too young to remember their mother. Not that they won't remember her now because Rick instills her presence into their lives on a daily basis."

"Pam, now do you see what I'm in store for?"

"I know that it seems that you are overwhelmed, but there is a silver lining to this black cloud. The girls love you."

"Pam really, how can they love me, they hardly know me."

"Kate listen to me...one night after you and Rick had met for whatever you two met for, and I am not prying, they did to Rick what they did to me. They cornered him and made him spill. He gave you up. And ever since then he has been updating how the two of you are doing."

"That son-of -a-bitch! I can't believe that he would tell them about our"...Kate stops herself because Pam really does not need to know what they were up to.

"Kate, I need you to answer one question for me. Pam being of Italian decent asked Kate her question in her native tongue. "Kate, pensa che potrebbe essere una madre per le ragazze?" ("Kate, do you think that you could be a mother to the girls?")

Kate looked up at Pam with a smile before forming a response in her head. After a few seconds she replied "Pam mi potrebbe non essre la loro madre, ma ho'd sicuro come la possibilita di provare!" ("Pam I might not be their mother, but i'd sure like the chance to try!")

Pam reached across the table and took Kate's hand. "Kate let's go see Rick, I'm sure by now that he is in a semi-private room."

They both rise and head out of the coffee shop each thinking about Rick.


	11. Chapter 11

The ride to Mt Sinai was a quick one. Pam was correct. By the time they arrived Rick had been just moved to a semi-private room. However, he was still under the effects of the morphine from the surgery. They each had a comfortable chair at each side of his bed. As Kate looked at his large form laying on the bed she thought that he looked a lot worse than the last time he was in the hospital. He had more machines to provide the nurses and doctors with much needed vital statistics connected to him this time. She wondered if there was something worse than they were telling them.

Peggy Kelly had silently slipped into his room around 2 am to take his vital readings. She thought she was quiet enough to do this without waking his sister or the detective. Just as she was finished and starting to write her results into his medical record at the foot of his bed, Kate asked a question at a whisper.

"Peggy, can I ask why he has so many machines hooked up to him?"

"Kate, each machine has a specific purpose. This one is a blood pressure monitor. It goes off about every 20 minutes and stores the readings until we clear them. You know what this is right?" Peggy pointed to the heart rate machine.

Kate nodded. It was a heart rate machine. It recorded his pulse, heart rate and his oxygenated blood levels.

"And this machine for the time being is assisting him with his breathing. It's called a ventilator. He will most likely be coming off this in the morning as well as him being slowly taken off the morphine."

Kate was still wondering if Rick was ever going to come out of this in one piece. He had a catheter in and a whole array of tubes and wires keeping him monitored.

"Peggy, why are there so many machines this time. It seemed that the last time he was in the hospital he had less equipment attached to him."

"Detective, he has just had major surgery."

Kate looks at her not totally understanding "What are you talking about? He was just here to get a few stitches because he ripped out the original ones closing his wound from the first surgery."

"Kate, who told you that?"

"My co-workers." Kate answered honestly.

"Well Kate, I'm here to tell you that Rick had a major surgical procedure. He was on the table for about 5 hours. He had an infection. The doctor had found that parts of his small and large intestine were necrotic, probably from the last injury he got. It was so bad that the doctor needed to remove about 2 feet of large intestine and 6 feet of small intestine. He is stable now and the fever has been reduced greatly."

"Peggy, I never knew he had a fever."

"Well, he did and he must have hidden it very well from you." Kate thinks back to the last couple of days and she really can't remember him looking sick. But she did notice him moving just a little slower at her apartment. Damn. Then hits her. That is why he was sweating so badly after he had taken down Leshawn. And she calls herself a detective, she completely overlooked all the signs.

"Peggy, How long will he be in the hospital this time?"

Before she can answer her Rick starts to thrash in his bed. His arms are flailing around like he is trying to stop something from happening. All they both hear is him trying to talk, but he can't be understood because of the vent tube down his throat.

"Kate grab his arm and I'll grab the other and maybe he will calm down a little."

As they both grab each of Rick's arms he starts to calm just a little. He is still trying to speak as they do this. Neither of them knows what he is trying to say, as he finally stops moving his arms and he stops trying to speak, Kate and Peggy take a closer look at his face. What they see next throws the both of them. Sliding down each side of his face are tears that don't look like they will stop anytime soon. As they look at each other again they hear him and he is quietly sobbing.

" _Rick what have I done to you?"_ Kate thinks to herself because she knows damn well that the tears he is shedding are for her.

"Kate he must be having a bad dream. Let's sit with him a little longer and see if he falls back to sleep."

Peggy leaves the room as Rick has finally fallen back to sleep. Pam has been playing possum the entire time. Trying to sort out how she needs to act on what has just happened in his room tonight. She knows Kate loves her brother. She needs to act on it just a little more. So while she pretends to be asleep she has the beginnings of a plan starting to form in her mind.

"Rick, I am not going to put you into danger anymore. So, when I get to the 12th in the morning I am going to ask Captain Montgomery for a transfer to another precinct." Kate all but whispered this pledge to him. But Pam heard it in its entirety. She wanted to so badly tell her that this was a stupid idea, but before she could do that, Kate had gently placed a loving kiss to Rick's cheek and gathered up her coat and bag and left the room.

Pam was not understanding her decision. Hell, she never woke her and told her that she was going to leave the room, she just kissed him and left. No there would be a conversation about this transfer she wanted so badly. So about after 10 minutes after Kate had left Pam was in a deep sleep. She would not wake up until Peggy was coming into his room at the end of her shift to check his vitals one last time before she left for the day.

Kate woke up feeling worse than when she went to bed 4 hours ago. Thinking that 4 hours would be a good rest in her own bed she was sadly mistaken. So she got out of bed and started her day. Getting the shower just right she hopped in and let the hot water wake her up. She was applying her very minimal make-up when she heard her cell ring. But by the time she reached it, it went to voice mail. _"Well, whoever it was will call back."_ She thought.

Pam decided not to leave a message for Kate. She would head her off at the pass. She quickly got out of the chair that she had slept in and used the bathroom in Rick's room to freshen up. After becoming presentable and giving Rick a quick peck on the cheek, she was off to beat Kate to work. She waited for the elevator and when she hit the lobby she called the doorman to hail her a cab. Timing was everything. The cab came to a screeching halt at the curb when the doorman had blown his whistle. Pam thanked him and jumped into the cab.

"Where to lady?" The gruff cabbie asked.

"Get me to the 12th precinct and there's an extra 50 in it if you can get me there in under 15 minutes." Pam said.

"Start the clock sweetheart, we're off!" With that, the cab bolted from the curb cutting off a black Lincoln MKz limo in its quest to get to the 12th.

Kate waited for the caller to recall her but her phone sat idle. So she pulled on her coat and grabbed her umbrella because the forecast was for an 80% chance of rain during the day. She locked her apartment up and turned for the stairway that led to the lobby. The day was overcast but not rainy yet, so she decided to walk to work. It was only 15 blocks straight and 2 blocks over. She could be there in twenty minutes.

By the time Pam arrived at the 12th she noticed that Kevin was just climbing the stairs to go to work.

"Kevin, have you seen Kate this morning?"

"Pam, hey how are you? And I'm not sure. I have not been up to the floor yet so I can't be sure if she is here or not. Why?"

"I need to talk to her."

"Well, I'm heading in, let's go in together and see if she's here yet."

With that said they both entered the twelfth...


	12. Chapter 12

The elevator arrived at the homicide floor and Kevin and Pam got off. While Kevin was looking to where Kate's desk was, Pam had her eyes on the captain's office. As she looked at the two people in it, she knew that she was too late. Kate was talking with her hands as she spoke, no doubt telling her boss how she was the one who was responsible for Rick having to go through yet another surgery yesterday. She sighed heavily.

Pam dared to walk over to the office to try to get a better idea of what was going on in there. Yeah, she was going to eavesdrop in on them.

"Sir you need to see this from my point view. I am the one who caused Rick to re-injure his wound again. I am only a liability to him and his team."

"Detective while I am not in total agreement with your assessment of the situation, I can tell you one thing, and you can look at this, however, you want to but if Detective Rodgers had not went to your apartment, taken down and arrested Evans' brother then he would have never realized that he would have died from the problem with his intestines. So in your own way you had saved his life. So now I am going to have to deny you your transfer request."

"Alright, ROY." Pam kinda yelled his name out as she fell off the office chair to avoid being seen by them. Kneeling by his door, she heard Roy say "Kate I had my doubts when I paired the two of you up. But now I see that I have made the right decision. Dismissed Detective Beckett. And I need the follow up 5's on the incident from the other day."

Pam tried to get to her feet, but by the time Kate opened the door all she could do was look up at Kate with her puppy dog eyes hoping that she would understand. "Pam get up. Then we need to have a talk about you being a spy." Kate let out a little giggle as she walked back to her desk.

Pam got up looked at Roy and gave him a thumbs up and Roy gave her a smile in return. Kate sat at her desk and waited for Pam. Pam was walking too slowly and Kate had an idea why.

"Pam get your butt over her and sit down. I realized why you were here when you yelled out Roy's name."

Pam picked up her pace and sat down. "So, your not mad at me?"

"Pam why on earth would I be mad at you?"

"Kate I came here to try to stop you from transferring out of the 12th."

"Well, as we can both see that's not going to happen now thanks to Roy."

Pam replied quietly "good."

"Really Pam? Why is that good?"

"Kate listen to me. You are in love with Rick. He even though he is being a stubborn ass right now he loves you too. I am sure that if we can put our heads together we can find a way for the two of you to have your happily ever after. I am sure of it."

"Pam I hope your right. So what do you have in mind?"

Pam gets up and heads over to the Captains office. She knocks and he tells her to enter. "Pam, what can I do for you?"

"Captain Montgomery I need to have Detective Beckett for about 4 hours later this afternoon, would that be possible?" Pam winked at Roy and he understood.

"Well, Ms. Rodgers, the detective needs to write up her report on what happened the other day at her place. So I guess after she is done with that she's all yours. A word of warning, though..."

"Yes, Captain?"

"If there is a body drop all bets are off. Her team is up next in the rotation. She will need to come back in, but until then she is done with the day after she files that report."

"Thanks, Roy." Roy winks back at her. Pam turns and leaves.

"Kate, How long will it take you to finish the report you need to fill out?"

"Pam, what did you do?"

"Kate, just file the damn report and then you need to come with me to Mt. Sinai. From there we have a lot of work to do." Pam leaves and Kate is left wondering what just happened when she glances over at the captain's office and she sees him waving a folder in his hand indicating to file the report.

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Rick came too slowly. From the bright lights that were shining above him, he knew that he was still in the hospital. He tried to talk but found that impossible, due to the ventilator tube shoved down his throat. He reached for the call button and pressed it numerous times. In about a minute there was 2 nurses and an intern in his room.

"Mr. Rodgers. Glad to see that your back with us." The intern had said.

Rick weakly raised his hand and pointed to the tube.

"Yes, Mr. Rodgers we are going to remove your vent tube when your doctor arrives. So please for now just take it easy okay?"

Rick made a writing gesture with his hand and the nurse pulled a memo pad and a pen from her pocket and handed it to Rick. Rick started to write and he held up the message for them to see.

The note read "Where's Kate?"

The intern responded "Mr. Rodgers, I'm afraid I don't know any Kate, I'm sorry."

Rick quickly and feverishly started to write once again.

"Detective Kate Beckett. She's about 5' 6" tall, chestnut colored hair and beautiful hazel/green eyes."

The second nurse who came in with them told Rick that she was here during the night but had left around 3 in the morning.

Rick wrote again "Why?"

The nurse had told him that there was an incident that involved you and her and she had left in a hurry. The nurse had heard Kate say something about requesting a transfer and that she was the cause of all your pain. Rick took to the pad once more.

"Did my sister follow after her?"

The nurse had told him that she stayed asleep until Peggy had checked on him before her shift had ended, but she noticed as she was coming into work that his sister had hailed a cab. The only reason she knew this is that the cab screeched away from the hospital in a high rate of speed.

"Where did she go to?" Rick wrote.

"Mr. Rodgers I'm not sure where she went to. But where ever she was going it was in a hurry."

Rick looked up at the man who entered his room.

"Hello Mr. Rodgers, How are you feeling today?" His doctor asked.

Rick again pointed to his throat and shook his finger at the tube.

"Yes, Yes I understand Mr. Rodgers. So why don't we do something about that then alright?"

Rick shook his head to the affirmative. He was just little apprehensive, he did not know what to expect. The intern had explained the procedure to him but he was still a little hesitant.

"Mr. Rodgers, what I am going to do now is remove the breathing tube from your esophagus. I will tell you that it will hurt and it will irritate you for about an hour after it is removed, but will you will be able to speak again. Please try to rest your voice until we finish with the removal of the breathing tube and for a couple of hours after that.

Rick nods again.

The doctor gently takes a hold of the tube and starts to extract the tube. The door into Rick's room opens so slowly and his attention is drawn to the doorway. He sees Pam and Kate and before he knows it the doctor is telling him to exhale and cough and as he keeps his eye on the newest visitors he does exactly just that. Within seconds Rick's breathing returns to somewhat normal after seeing the two women ha cares about the most in his world.

"So Mr. Rodgers, without experiencing any more problems that might arise I think that it's safe to say that you could be discharged by the day after tomorrow." Rick remembers what the doctor had told him to save his voice, and he, in turn, smiles back at him.

"Good you remembered. Take it easy on those vocal chords, they will be sore until tomorrow maybe even the next day." Rick high five's the doctor who in turn leaves them alone.

Pam asks her question first, "Rick how do you feel?"

Rick nods his head, yes, meaning that he is fine. Pam then tells Rick what had happened at the 12th this morning. After telling him that Kate requested a transfer Rick's face turns blood red. He even looks a little pissed off.

"So Rick is there something that you want to tell us?"

Kate looks over to Pam and then thinks back to the conversation in the car on the ride over to the hospital.

In Kate's car...

"Kate I'm not going to lie to you. I was sorta awake yesterday morning in Rick's room. I heard what you said to him after you and Peggy got him calm. Kate, there was no way that I was going to let you go through with that. You are too important to him and if I know you like I think I do then he is important to you also."

"Pam you saw the tears rolling down his cheeks. I know you did. Even in his sub-conscious, he is still thinking or even trying to protect me."

"Kate why are you questioning this. You know that he loves you right?"

"Pam this is what you want to see. But what if it was something totally different? What if he was crying over losing his wife? Or god forbid one of the girls. You can't come to the conclusion that he was crying over me."

"Yeah, Kate you're right...so we are just going to have to ask him."

Back in Rick's room...

Rick had lifted his arm and is curling his index finger towards his palm at Kate with the come to me motion. She looks at him with a questioning look, so he does it once again. This time, he places his hand at the base of her skull and pulls her in closer to him so he can practically kiss her ear.

"What did you think transferring to another precinct would do?" He whispered into her ear.

Kate moves back so she can see his face. "Rick I am the one who is causing you all this grief and pain. So I figured that it would be easier this way."

He pulls her in again once more and whispers... "Kate after all that we've been through you would just transfer without telling me? Just leave me to wonder why you had left?

"Rick, I thought that you would want to be on your own again. So that's why."

Rick pulls her in one final time but he stops her from reaching his ear instead he turns her head and gently places a kiss on her lips and soon she is melting into the kiss. He is demanding entry to her mouth to explore and she grants him. As he explores her mouth she thinks that she is in heaven. Oh, what this man can do with his tongue.

Pam has been watching the heart rate machine and it has been steadily climbing higher and higher. She rises and taps Kate on the shoulder.

"Hey guys, Can you come up for some air? Please?"

As they both part Pam needs to know the answer to the question she is about to ask Rick. Kate gives her a look and moves away from Rick. Rick feels the loss of her body immediately.

"Rick listen to me, the other morning me Kate and the overnight nurse Peggy needed to restrain you during what looked to be a bad dream you were having. Would you care to tell us about it...that is if you remember it?"

Rick solemnly looked at his hands that were clasped together...


	13. Chapter 13

Rick's eyes look at his hands. When he looks up, he looks directly into the beautiful eyes of one Kate Beckett.

"Pam, could you give us five minutes alone, please?" Rick gives her a sad look. Pam takes the hint and leaves the room The door closes with a soft click and Rick continues speaking.

"Kate, there is or there was a nightmare about what happened that day at your apartment. I remember the day that I told you that whatever was going on in there would not be good for your baby."

"Rick that's what did happen. I think it was a good plan until Leshawn decided to get full of himself."

"Kate, you don't understand. In my nightmare, it did not end that way. I was too late. I made a move for him but he had already cut you with a surgical type of knife. He cut your femoral artery in your left leg and then after I made the comment about your baby he cut your right one. You were bleeding out. And that was not the worst part."

"Rick please, tell me what else happened."

"Kate, I'm not to sure that I should tell you what happened. I mean it's only a nightmare and it really can't happen, because Leshawn is locked up at Rikers waiting for his arraignment."

Detective Rodgers, you tell me what happened right this instant...or else."

Rick gave Kate a grave look and continued on with what happened to her in his nightmare.

"Kate after he cut you, you were literary dying. I could see him holding a bowie knife to your throat through the crack of the door. He kept you in place so you could not get away. Then I made the biggest mistake of my life. I rushed your bedroom. What I did not see was that he had sliced your jugular with bowie knife as I knocked the door off its hinges he sliced your throat wide open with one swift move. It was all I could do to stand there watch you die and let him escape."

"Rick I'm here right beside you. I'll never leave you...because I love you."

"Kate, don't you see? This is Coleen all over again. Everything I touch turns ugly in the end."

"Rick, is that what you think? You think that you're the anti-Midas? Well, you my friend are wrong on so many levels."

Just as Kate finishes and before Rick can respond the door to his room swings open.

"Hey, guys look at who I found out wandering the halls."

Rick cranes his neck to see who is behind Pam. Kate already sees who it is but will let Rick find out for himself. Within seconds of Pam's statement, the girls rush to his side and swarm him with kisses and hugs. He was almost knocked onto the floor from the bed. They then decide to give it a rest and then they start talking to him.

Alyssa starts first, "Dad please give Kate a chance. She's fun and I'm not saying that she could ever replace mom, but don't you think that she deserves a piece of your heart? Doesn't she deserve a chance? You have always taught us that it's okay to let people in and help."

"Dad, while I think that you're happy raising us, making sure all of our needs are met taking care of our school stuff and our after school stuff, don't you think you have paid the price?" Olivia asks him.

"Dad you need to start thinking about yourself. And I know that Kate here will give you what you need. I'm not saying that she can replace mom, but dad please give her a chance. You seem to get along...how could it hurt." Alyssa asks.

"And we like her!" The girls both say in unison.

Kate looks at Rick and what she sees has her doing exactly what he is doing. Kate sees Rick with tears flowing down his cheeks. Through her tear filled eyes, she takes his hand and raises it up to her lips and kisses his palm. He pulls her onto the bed and gets her comfortable right next to him. They lay there together until Pam has the common sense to tell the girls to get their things ready so that they can leave.

"Rick, I'll take the girls home with me tonight. I don't think that Gary will mind. Please call me in the morning Kate. Tell me what you have decided to do." Kate nods to Pam.

The girls gathered their stuff and were waiting outside their dads room. Pam gave one last look at the two of them and she gave Kate a quick wink of her eye and left the room.

"Kate, listen I want to apologize for earlier."

"Rick, what are you talking about?"

"When I was on the stretcher and being wheeled out of your building I was a little short with you."

"Rick I understand, let's move on from that. I was just as upset with you as you were with me, maybe a little more."

Rick draws Kate closer to him and being mindful of his IV tube in his arm Kate snuggles into his body. Before long they're both sleeping soundly. During the night, the night shift nurse had brought her residents a warm blanket and an extra pillow. It's somewhere around 3:30 in the morning when Kate feels something that wakes her out of a sound sleep. She groggily feels Rick pull her tighter to him. She thinks that he is just wanting the contact between them to be closer, but then in seconds, it turns spine-chilling quickly.

 _"Kate, Kate watch out. No, don't do that you bastard! Please don't Noooooo don't! Oh my god Kate."_

Rick's muscles are so taught that Kate thinks that she will have her lungs crushed by Ricks squeezing her closer to him. She tries to wake him so that she can start breathing again but as she tries she looks at him. All of him. He has tears running down his cheeks. She can't believe what a mess she has made of this. She needs to get him back into a normal familiar routine.

"Rick, Babe. Hey, Rick, it's me, Kate. Do you hear the sound of my voice?"

Rick's muscles start to relax a little enough to let Kate take a short breath. She keeps whispering into his ear and before long he is more relaxed and he starts to come out of his nightmare.

"Kate, what's going on?" Rick asks her coming out of his sleep.

"Rick it was the nightmare you described to me earlier, the one where I died."

Rick looks away ashamed. But before he can get into that frame of mind Kate speaks to him again...

"Babe, listen to me. I am here, right in front of you in the flesh. You can touch me, make love to me, tease me, get me all hot and bothered, but listen to me Rick, please get this through your mind. I'm not dead. I have you to thank for that. So please try to forget that nightmare. I'm not a shrink but I think that if we talk about it together we can make that terrible dream stop."

Rick pulls Kate into a loving hug. "Kate I am in love with you. I am going to try to erase this dream from my mind, but I am going to let you know that I might need you again to bring me down to reality."

"Deal."

Before long they are both asleep again. In the morning after the nursing staff had changed their shift, the day nurse Samantha Nelson was assigned Rick as her patient. She had entered the room. She really hated to wake them but Rick was actually going to be processed out of the hospital this morning. His lab work had come back normal, he had the breathing tube removed and he was off the drugs. And beside the stitches that were replaced in his torso, he would be okay to leave granted he kept off his feet for the next 10 days. She shook Kate first and she jolted up. Thinking that, Rick was having another bad dream. She opened her eyes and noticed Samantha standing next to her, Samantha told her the news about Rick's discharge orders for this morning. Kate was grinning from ear to ear. As she turned to look at him all she heard from him was, "Kate try not to show your enthusiasm that much." He said without even opening his eyes.

Samantha left and processed his paperwork and as Kate was taking a shower she had returned to explain what needed to be done with his physical therapy.

"Rick you need to be on top of the PT. It will only help you in the long run, so listen to Kate okay?"

"Yeah, alright I will."

Samantha worked processing his paperwork. Rick was in his room waiting for the wheelchair to transport him out of the hospital. As he waited for the transport Kate slid up behind him and wrapped her arms around his broad chest.

"Rick, tell me that everything will be okay?"

"Kate I can promise you that I will do my best to make you feel at ease. I will honor and cherish you."

"Why Detective Rodgers...are you proposing to me?"

"Do you want me to? Which question will get me a yes?

Kate just looked at him...

 **A/N: My apologies for the delay in getting this out to you, the reader. it was not my intention. Work has been taking over my life and I am really trying to get this updated on a weekly basis. I will try to have another update for whoever is following this out there soon. Again thank you!**

 **P2P**


	14. Chapter 14

Two months, Sixty days, 1440 hours. This is how long it has been since Rick was released from the hospital. He had been given a clean bill of health about three weeks ago, but that was not before he needed to go back to his own doctor because of oozing from his knife wound about 2 weeks after he was released. It was simple to take care of and now he was finally able to return back to his job. He had just been cleared by the NYPD medical department. Now he was so nervous. He now stood in a jewelers store off of Canal street.

He had been working with Gaspar for the last week to find the most breathtaking ring for Kate. He was hoping that she would have asked him to propose in the hospital, but she quickly had become shy. Really shy, so he took matters into his own hands.

"Richard, this diamond is one of our best stones. It is still in it's rough form and we will cut it to fit your setting but I really think that this could be the one you are looking for." Gaspar said. He was always one to use persons given name, his mother had insisted.

"Gaspar I think that you have found the one. I am glad that you were able to help me with this. You have gone above and beyond. I will never forget what you have done...ever. This means so much to me." Rick is now wondering when and how to actually say those four words out loud to her.

Kate has been doing well with Rick and the boys. So much so that she has been taken from the rookie/newbie nickname and is now just being called Detective Beckett. She has proven herself time and again and now that she has earned Ryan and Espo's trust she has been given harder tasks. Mostly since Rick has been back because the Captain would not let him go out into the field after the oozing problem. So now she and the boys have been assigned a top priority case.

He was the son of the Manhattan borough president. He was murdered in an industrial area of Manhattan. The Borough president and her husband were out attending a fundraiser for the mayor. Kate and Javi had taken a good look at the crime scene. Josh was an only child. He had no prior arrests and Kate hated to say it but he was squeaky clean. Deciding to ask Josh's mom and dad some questions they went back to the Borough Presidents home. As they started to look around, they were looking for a possible motive when Ryan came into the living room.

"Guys, you need to see this."

Kate and Javi head towards where Ryan had disappeared to Josh's bedroom. On his desk, he had a file on his laptop that somehow ended up staying open. Kate clicked on the file. As she looked at the file, what she saw made her gasp. She reflexively covered her mouth with her hand. Espo and Ryan just stood there looking at the screen. In a state of shock. As they watched the camera traverse back and forth it was capturing images of gunshots being fired at tied and bound homeless people. They were all hogtied and were facing the person filming their demise. It's just that the person filming the murders was also the one pulling the trigger. As the murderer was narrating his killing spree he was heard to say "These people will no longer be a drain on OUR economy!" At the present count, 87 rounds had been fired.

It was right after that that Josh had decided to do something about it. He must have been hidden, but now as he had rushed the person filming the camera swung around to see Josh running full steam at him. Josh was a big guy. He was about 220 and stood somewhere about 6' 3". It was a hell of a collision. The person and Josh were sent flying backwards. The camera actually hit a soft patch of grass and leaves and continued recording. The guy who killed the homeless looked almost homeless himself. He got to his feet and out from behind his back he slipped a large hunting knife from its sheath. Within seconds this suspect was right up to Josh, deeply plunging his knife into him. Repeatedly. Josh never saw it coming. What the killer did not know is that while Josh was hidden he had accessed the file sharing app on his smartphone. So as his phone locked onto the cameras blue tooth signal everything was being shared with his phone and laptop. As Josh laid there dying from his wounds, he tilted his cell phone to capture his face. And just before he died he had given the team one more important clue about his murderer.

"This man is or was in the military. He used terms that only someone in the service would use. Mom, Dad I will never stop loving you, please forgive me..."

The file ends and Kate is still standing there, her hand still covering her mouth, but now tears have started rolling down her cheeks. Javi pulls her into him and he soothes her as he hugs her. Then he hears her say

"Javi, We are going to get this sick son-of-a-bitch, this I promise you."

Kevin and Javi collect a couple of more items from Josh's room that they might think could help the investigation. As they get ready to leave they meet with the borough president.

Kate says "Ma'am there is something that you need to see and you will see it. But right now it needs to be tagged as evidence. I promise that you get to see it."

The president just nods and understands. They leave and when they get back to the precinct they have pretty much got a handle on their emotions. They ride the elevator up to their floor and as Kate gets off she scans the room for Rick. She knows that he should be here but she is saddened that he is nowhere to be found. She really needs to hold him right now. Twenty-five minutes later the elevator dings announcing a passenger. Kate never bothers to look up. Rick gets off and quickly places his index finger to his lips signaling the boys to keep his arrival quiet. She is neck deep in paperwork when he takes a seat right behind her. He slides in closer and just as he is going to scare her she spins around on her chair and takes him into her arms, hugging him like her life depended on the hug for her to live.

"Whoa there, what's wrong Kate?"

"Rick, can't I just hug you?"

"Anytime. You just need to pull me in!"

"Thanks, Rick. I needed this after the morning I had."

Rick is now concerned. "Kate, what happened?"

"Well since I have a ton of paperwork to take care of why don't you let Javi and Kevin fill you in."

Rick looked at her with question. Then he looks towards Kev and he gets up to ask what happened this morning while he was away.

"Hey Kev, what happened this morning?"

"Rick there is something that we need to show you on this case. And you're not going to like it, hell me and Javi don't like it. Here watch this." Kevin re ques the file and hits play.

After the file finishes playing Rick runs out into the bullpen. He asks the guys "Hey guys, did Kate watch this?"

"Yeah, actually she was right in front of the laptop as it played."

Damn that's why she was hugging me so fiercely. Rick thinks to himself.

"Guys, break room now." Rick was glad that Kate was elected to make the lunch run.

Kevin and Java walked into the break room. "Boss what's up?"

Listen, guys, I need to ask you something and I hope you're alright with it."

They both answer "Okay, what is it?"

Kevin's eye has just the hint of a twinkle in it. Javi just stands there waiting.

"Listen, guys, I am going to ask Kate to marry me. I spent a lot of time and effort to find her the perfect engagement ring." With that Rick pulls the black velvet covered box from his pocket He opens it with both hands and turns it towards his friends. "We will be great together, so keep this a secret. Please. Javi responds first "What's in it for us?"

"What's in...you're kidding me right? Can't you just be happy for your BOSS?"

"Relax, Rick. I'm just yanking your chain! But yeah I am happy for you! Congrats!"

"Yeah, Rick congrats!" Kevin gets out.

"Congrats? What's goin on?" Kate asked.

Java and Kevin for a barrier in front of Rick so he had time to hide the ring away.

"Kate, the boys were just congratulating me for finally being returned back to full duty!" Rick was hoping that Kate would just take that as a plausible answer.

"Okay, I'm glad that your back too!" She turned and laid out the food for them. She knew that Rick was lying through his teeth, but she did not know about what, though.

"Foods ready"...Kate announced.


	15. Chapter 15

Since she was no longer a "probie, or a rookie" she would use the skills that she was taught to find out what was going on with Rick and the boys. That includes the Captain. She sat at the break room lunch table and ate her lunch. Rick was soon sitting next to her. The boys decided to eat at their desks, leaving them alone together.

"So they like that your back full time?"

"Yeah, they are both happy that I am back to full duty because I have that go get em attitude.!"

"Oh okay, so that's not the only reason they were congratulating you earlier?"

Ricks face went white as a sheet, but tried to recover quickly. "Yeah, why do would think otherwise?"

"Oh, I don't know Rick, just call it a detectives intuition."

Rick needed to finish his lunch and get back to his desk before she found out what he was hiding from her. He knew that eventually she would wear him down and get the truth out of him and he would fold like a cheap suit. She was a great interrogator in her own right.

Deciding to get away from her so she could not question him anymore, Rick says "Listen Kate, I need to do a canvas of the current case we are working on."

"Rick, what case are you talking about? All we have is the paper work from the case that Ryan and Espo just closed."

Rick cringes internally knowing that she was right, that is until Roy walks over and tells Rick that he needs to head down to the range for the rest of the day to re-qualify with his weapon since he has been on medical leave for so long. Roy gives Rick a wink that Kate can't see and Rick nods his thanks to Roy.

"Well Kate, I am sorry but I need to go right now!"

Kate thinks to herself _"Rick Rodgers, you can run but you can never hide!"_

Rick grabs his weapon and coat and heads out. Ryan and Javi look at him and snicker to themselves. Kate, on the other hand, tells the boys "Hey guys, It's okay if you finish the paperwork for this case alone...right?"

The boys stopped their immature snickering and looked at her like she was nuts. Kate just ignores them and picks up the phone to make a call. She needs some help and who better to help her than Pam. She knows him better than he knows himself.

"Hey Pam, are you busy?"

"Oh hey Kate, what's up?"

"Pam I need your undivided attention. Can you meet me at our coffee shop?"

"Sure Kate, when?"

"Can you make it in an hour? We can meet for lunch?"

"Kate that would be great. I'll see you there in an hour."

Kate ends the call and now she is being spied on by the boys.

"Something wrong guys?"

"No, Beckett. Where are you off to?"

"Early lunch. You okay with that?"

The boys remained silent. "Yeah I thought you might be." She turned and walked out.

Kate needed to collect her thoughts before she met with Pam. Walking to the coffee shop she knew Rick was hiding something from her, was it something that involved the both of them? Maybe he was going to put in for a transfer? He did say that the team had one too many detectives. She being the last one to be assigned to the team. Oh god that was it, he was leaving so that she could advance. No this was not what she wanted. She would convince him otherwise.

Kate arrived at the coffee shop. Selected a booth at the back of the shop facing the door. About 15 minutes later and a latte Pam entered. Pam takes a seat across from Kate and she can see the terror in her eyes. She extends her hand to take Kate's. Her hands are ice cold.

"Kate, what's the matter?"

"PamRickisgoingtoleaveme!"

"Kate slow down and let's go at it word by word. Your sentence ran into one long word."

Kate inhales and tries again more evenly this time. "Pam I think Rick is going to leave me."

"Kate that's nonsense, he is so in love with you, why would you think this?"

"Pam, he's hiding something from me. I don't know what it is but I think that our team has too many detectives and he will transfer to let me stay on this team."

"Kate that is just like him he would always do anything for any member of his team."

"Pam, I can't be without him. He is my life, I love him so much!"

"Kate, let's not get your panties in a bunch just yet. Let me talk to the lunkhead and see what's gong on okay?"

"Pam thanks. You're a lifesaver. I really need to get back. Let me know what he says okay?"

"Kate by the way, where is he, I mean can I call him and he won't be within earshot of you...right?

Pam, he is at the range re-qualifying with his service weapon."

"Okay, thanks, Kate." Pam thinks to herself _"Rick Rodgers you better have a damn good reason you are slowly killing her!"_

Pam picks up her cell phone and calls the lunkhead. Within seconds, he picks up and all she hears is gunfire erupting in the background.

"Rick, are you okay?"

"Pam I'm fine. I am just re-qualifying with my gun. That's the reason for the noise...hold on for a sec..."

5 seconds later the noise has stopped. She is grateful for that at least.

"Rick, do you have some time to meet?"

"Sure Pam, do you know that coffee shop about 2 blocks from the 12th?"

"Yeah as a matter of fact I do!"

"Well, great how about we meet there in a half hour?"

"Yeah what's another latte?" Pam whispers under her breath.

"What was that Pam?" Rick was straining to hear what she said.

"What, oh nothing I said I'll meet you for a latte."

"Well, great see you then."

I should really invest in this shop, I would make a killing! Pam strolled up the counter and ordered a latte for herself and she asked the barristia to send over a cappuccino in a half an hour. Pam pulled out a 20 dollar bill and since the bill was $10.65, she kept the 5 and left the rest for the tip.

Rick true to his word arrives at the coffee shop 30 minutes later. He is out of breath as he slides into the booth and as he thinks about what he wants to have the barristia sets down a cappuccino in front of him. He looks up and thanks her.

"Sorry about being late. Had to run from the cab here. There was some kind of accident. I ran the last 3 blocks here."

"Rick you're early if anything."

"So Pam what's up?"

Pam thinks about how to word what she needs to ask Rick. But can't find how to ask it politely. So she just wings it.

"Have you lost what's left of your mind?" Pam nearly yells out to him from across the table.

"Pam, what are you talking about?"

"Rick, Kate and I met here about an hour ago and she is scared shitless! She thinks that you are going to leave the 12th. So that she can move into your slot in the team.!"

"WHAT? I love her why would I ..." then it hits him with the force of a wrecking ball. His heart feels like he has betrayed her. But what was she to think he had hidden the ring from her. He needed to tell Pam.

"Pam, listen I am your brother and I need you to keep your big mouth shut. Do you think that you can do that for me?" Rick chuckles and smiles at her, as she sees this she knows that he is only kidding.

"Yeah Rick, I can."

Rick reaches under the table, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out the diamond ring her bought for Kate. He hands Pam the black velvet box and holds his breath as she opens the lid.

"Oh My God Rick...it's beautiful." Pam is actually for the first time in her life at a loss for anything to say at this moment. She just stares intently at the ring. "So when are you gong to ask her?"

"Pam I thought I'd ask her tomorrow. The girls will be home and I'll invite her over for lunch since we both have the next two days off."

"Rick I'm so happy for you! Glad to see that you can move on."

"I hope so. I just hope she says yes."

"Rick she has been waiting for YOU TO ASK HER FOR THE LONGEST TIME NOW! She'll say YES!

"Pam please you don't need to yell."

"Sorry, I'm just so happy for the both of you."

"Pam, remember not a word."

Pam makes the motion of zipping her lips and throwing away the key for Rick's peace of mind. She just looks over at him. He will be fine with her, she is sure of this.

"Pam listen I need to head back to the 12th. Can we talk later?"

Pam just shakes her head. "Pam don't be funny" Rick says as he gets up and puts his coat on. He turns and she watches him leave.

Rick walks the two blocks from the coffee shop to the 12th. He has a lot on his mind. He needs to speak to Roy to see if he has any chance of him staying at the 12th with Kate. If they get married one of them will need to transfer from the 12th. He would gladly do this to have her in his life period. No question about it. He enters the lobby of the precinct and collects his thoughts. He heads up to the fourth floor and maneuvers his way to Roy's office. Standing at the doorway entrance he just watches him.

"Something on your mind Rodgers?" Roy asks without even looking up from his paperwork.

Rick walks into his office and sits in the guest chair...


	16. Chapter 16

"Sir, I need some clarification on a standing regulation within the department."

"Let me guess, does this involves a certain female detective by the name of Beckett?"

"Roy, come on this is serious stop screwing around."

"Rick, you know that I will always keep your best interests in the back of my mind...right? Evelyn would kill me if I didn't."

"Roy, I am in love with her. There is no way that I could leave her, isn't there an exclusion that lets me date and marry Kate while we are still here at the 12th?"

"Rick, it's not as easy as you think. However there is one way that I could see it working."

"Roy don't leave me hanging in the wind, spill it!"

"Rick, it will mean that you will no longer be in charge of your team out there."

"Roy..."

"Rick listen, there is an exception that will let you to stay here with Kate and working within the same house. But there is a drawback, Roy pauses I will be losing my lead detective to the position of Lieutenant. And he will no longer be attached to homicide. Most likely he will get his feet wet in either robbery or vice."

"Roy come on, isn't there another way? Maybe we could work in separate parts of the building, but still be in homicide...right?"

"Rick, what do you want me to tell you? There is no way the brass at 1PP will let the two of you work in the same house. However if you were a leading lieutenant let's say in vice then you would need to be 1 floor below us. You would still be here and you'd have 1PP off your back!"

"Yeah but Roy...Vice sucks!"

Roy cuts Rick off and says "Rick, Kate is coming through the bullpen with the suspect for the Peterson case. Let's discuss this later alright?"

Yeah, okay Roy lets talk later."

Rick gets up and leaves Roy's office. In his mind, he tries on the title of Lieutenant Rodgers and he really hates the sound of it.

Kate was moving towards interrogation room 2 when he finally catches up with her.

"Did he give you any trouble?" Rick asks trying not to let his concern for her well-being show that much.

"No Babe... he was a little combative but I was able to handle him. Kate went red in the face the minute she realized what she had let slip out of her mouth. She quickly scanned the bullpen and found that Ryan and Espo were nowhere to be found and she was so very thankful for that. Rick however just looked at her with a face that gave away his feelings. He was giving her a look of pining but he knew better to show her this so he quickly schooled the look on his face before she could see it.

The problem was that Kate never missed a thing. She noticed the look on his face and then she quickly turned away from his leading her suspect towards the interrogation room. She cuffed him to the table and left the room.

"Detective, why are you just leaving him in there?"

Kate answered Rick coldly "Detective Rodgers while I might have arrested him on the intel that detective Ryan had given me and brought him in to be questioned, I will not be the one who questions him. That's your job to assign the available personnel to that task."

"Kate why are you acting like this, please talk to me?"

"I don't know, Rick why don't you tell me? Maybe some things are okay for the guys to find out about, but I'm the outsider."

Rick's shoulders sag just a little bit. He thought that she would be more kinder towards him, but he was keeping something from her. That would change right now, he had made up his mind. He walks over to where Kate is standing filling out the property vouchers for their current suspect.

"Detective Beckett, your presence is required at my home tonight at 7 pm, and don't be late that's an order!"

Kate just looked up at him with a shocked look on her face as he walked away from her and towards Roy's office. She blinked when he slammed the office door.

"Roy, that's it! I am going to accept the job. There will be no way you can keep me from marrying Kate."

"So that's your decision Rick?"

"Yes Roy it is. I am going to ask her tonight. I am also going to need to leave a little earlier than usual today, if that's okay."

Roy looks at his watch and seeing it's only 9:41 he asks Rick "Okay Rodgers, when do you want to leave?"

"Well Roy, I was thinking right NOW!"

Roy breaks out in a smile and says "Rick update your status and get the hell out if here."

Before Roy can ask Rick about his current cases he has already left the office and taking his coat from the back of his chair. He throws it over his shoulder and bolts past a very still shocked and suspicious looking Kate, heading towards the elevators.

He gets back to the apartment and on the way there he placed a call to Pam. He needs her insight for what and how he was propose to Kate tonight. As he arrived at his place Pam was waiting with 2 cups of coffee for them.

"So big brother have finally come to your senses and decided to make an honest woman out of Kate?"

Rick just looks away from Pam knowing that she is right and has possibly had known all along that they were so good together. He gets out of his car and takes the offered coffee. They start to talk about how he should ask Kate but Pam has other plans. She tells him her thoughts and he is liking her idea the more she explains it to him. It will take a little work but Rick likes the end result.

Kate has finished processing the paperwork for the property held on the suspect that now sits in holding. Since she has a lull in her day she decides to ask the Captain about Rick's hasty departure. As she knocks on his door she asks...

Sir, do you have a minute?"

"Sure detective, come in and have a seat." Kate enters and sits across from Roy. Now that she has had the time think as she has sat down, she thinks that this might be a mistake...

"Detective I'm waiting!"

Kate answers "Sir I might have a little issue with detective Rodgers."

"Do tell, detective."

"Well, Captain, I think I might be falling for him."

"You might be? Really Beckett? I am going to let you in a secret...you already have fallen from him. Now get out of my office, because I am pretty sure you have a dinner date at 7 tonight. And I for one will not be the reason that you can't make said dinner date. So go! Dismissed Detective!"

Kate needs some help. She pulls out her phone and just as the call connects she swears she hears a "shhhh" as the call connects.

"Kate what a surprise!" A bubbly Pam answers.

"I need help!"

"What's the matter?"

"Rick left the 12th in a hurry and all he told me was to be at his place by 7 pm tonight. I only have one problem. I have all these clothes for work, but I have nothing to show off my girly side. I need you to help me find a really nice dress."

"Kate you have come to the right person. Where are you?"

"I am just getting ready to leave work. I was dismissed early today."

"Okay, Kate have you ever heard of Nicole Miller?"

"No, should I have?"

"Okay I keep forgetting that you are a detective and don't get out as much as you should. It's a bridal dress shop that is very upscale, but the prices are reasonable and it's close to the precinct it's in So-Ho.."

"Pam, I am not looking for a wedding dress!" Kate says shocked then turning pale at the comment.

"Relax Kate. This shop also designs great looking cocktail dresses, and you my friend really need one, I'm just sayn. Can you meet around lunch time and then we can get you a great looking dress and then we can have lunch?"

Kate thinks a second "Okay Pam, I'll see you there by noon is that good?"

"Sure Kate. That sounds great. I'll meet you in a little while."

Kate feels a little more at ease when she ends the call. Hopefully, Rick will be taking her to a high-class restaurant, where they can make googlie eyes at each other all night.

Rick has to talk to his children in order for his plan to be a success. The only little problem he overlooked when he left the precinct was that today was a Friday and they were in school until 2:55 pm. So he decided to go and pick up what he needed for tonight's proposal. His first stop was the florist. He needed to pick up some rose petals and 1 single rose for Kate. Having this in hand he then heads to the nearest Staples to pick up some poster boards and sharpies. When he gets back to his apartment he starts writing what he needs to say to Kate on the poster boards.


	17. Chapter 17

Rick has done everything he could think of to make his proposal genuine and one of a kind. Sure, maybe some other guys had thought about doing what he was going to do and probably did what he was thinking. But this was _his_ proposal to Kate. He hoped that she thought it would be original. He is startled by the opening of the apartment door he quickly starts to hide the poster boards before he hears Alyssa talking to Olivia as they enter the apartment. Rick decides that it's safe to leave the poster boards out and not hide them. The girls walk down the hallway after relieving themselves of their school bags, ready to change into jeans and comfortable tops. Nothing beats the uniform that they needed to wear to school. Rick has stayed hidden in his room and he listens to his daughters talk about of all things, his love life.

"Alyssa, don't you think that Kate has more than the hots for dad?"

"Liv, are you telling me that they have done the deed already?"

"No, I am not saying that, but I'd like to know that dad is happy. He has been alone for so long. All he does is take good care of us and go to work. That's not living! He needs to get laid!"

"Olivia Marie Rodgers, you watch your tongue, don't you know that people can hear us talking! The walls of this apartment are not exactly soundproof you know. I can't believe you'd actually think that let alone say it out loud!"

"Oh come on Alyssa, do not tell me that you were not thinking the same exact thing! He is so alone. I am sure that he and Kate have been "together" so to say, but he needs something more in his life, don't you think?"

"Yeah, he does!" Rick says as he is leaning against the girls doorway.

"Dad," they both say together bashfully. "We didn't know that you were home. I'm sorry, yeah, so am I dad."

"Girls it's fine, and your right. Kate and I have both been intimate together, which leads me to the question I am going to ask of you right now."

"Dad?"

"Girls listen you are my life, that's a given. I live to love you, to raise you, and teach you that life can throw you a curve ball once and a while...no questions asked. But do you think that you could see Kate as being like a stand-in mother of sorts?"

"Dad we both like Kate, and I think that with a little bump forward we could actually love her. No woman would take the place of mom and we would never ask you to find such a woman, but dad Kate comes in at the top of the list for us."

"Girls your answer just sealed it for me. Listen I am going to need your help in about 2 hours."

"Really dad what could be so important?"

"In time, you'll see."

Rick turns to leave but before he does he sternly tells Olivia "Liv, you should really heed your sisters suggestion!"

"Yes Daddy, I am sorry for saying that."

"We will talk later. Goodbye, girls."

"Bye, dad"

Rick has a lot to do before Kate arrives in two hours. He needs to work out how and what to say as he thinks that she will be caught off guard by his proposal. He will use that to his advantage. He goes to his safe in the floor, under the throw rug. He dials the combination and lifts the small black velvet box up and away from it's hiding place. He opens the lid and gazed at the ring. It's not the smallest, but it's not imposing either. It's in the middle. His gazing is disrupted by sequels and screeches. Without turning around he says

"Girls, haven't I told you that it's impolite to eavesdrop on someone?"

"Really dad, you need to brush up on the term eavesdropping. What Ally and I were doing was being inquisitive."

"Inquisitive...really, that's the same thing as eavesdropping!"

"Okay dad, so maybe you do know the meaning, but still you weren't talking to anyone so eavesdropping is not what we were doing."

"Okay, then I will call it stalking! Rick says as he lets out a soft chuckle.

"So what do you guys think now that the cat is out of the bag."

"Dad, it's beautiful!" "Yeah, Dad it really is."

"Okay guys here's the plan...

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Kate and Pam have looked at almost every dress that the shop had to offer. The ones Pam liked Kate hated, and the ones Kate liked Pam hated.

"Pam this is useless. I am never going to find a dress that will please the both of us."

"Kate there are two dresses left to try on. Just come out in the La Femme capped dress, who knows, maybe that's the one. And by the way, this is for Rick not for either of us." Kate then smiles.

It was not until Kate came out wearing a plum colored La Femme dress. It did two things for Kate, Pam thought. The first it made her eyes pop and she was sure that Rick would see her for that, but the second and most important thing it did was show off Kate's gorgeous figure. That combination would drive Rick nuts.

"Kate, the search is over! That dress is amazing!" Pam got up and left heading for the front of the store. Leaving Kate a little uncertain as to where she was going.

Pam walked over to the sales clerk and pointed to Kate in the dress and asked the price. The clerk looked it up on the computer and told Pam the dress was reduced to $378.00. Pam pulled out her AMEX card and charges the entire amount including enough for a great pair of shoes and a clutch. Kate returns from the changing room and asks Pam where she went to. Pam blows her off running quickly to the front door telling her that there was an errand that she needs to take care of right away and she left Kate standing there in the dress shop with the sales clerk.

Pam got into her car and screeched away leaving Kate and the sales clerk looking at the car speeding away, then to each other.

"Miss, the person who just left told me to make sure that you selected a pair of heels and a purse to go along with your new dress."

"She did now, did she?"

"Yes Miss, she did, is there a problem?"

"Not with you there's not. But with her...let's say she will get what's coming to her! And very soon." Kate said as she walked over to the shoe section and started to look around.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rick was at a loss. He had worked it all out in his head to where Kate was about to knock on his door. He just needed to know what she would think after she noticed her instructions. He was really starting to wonder if proposing to Kate like this was the way he should be doing it. Maybe he should just take her out to a really good restaurant and drop to one knee and just ask her. No BS. He just wanted to be her fiancee.

"Liv, Ally can you both come here please?"

They both appear in the doorway to his room.

"Dad what's wrong?"

"Listen, here is what I am thinking. I am going to ask Kate to marry me tonight."

Rick had to cover his ears with his hands and wait until they both finished screaming. When the noise subsided a little...

"Dad that's so great!" "Yeah, dad what did you have in mind?"

"Well I have an idea, but you two will need to be a part of it."

"Dad, you don't have to ask, we're in!"

"Okay, all I need for you to do is to stand right next to me and wait for the expression on Kate's face while you hold the poster boards I made up."

"Dad if that's what we are going to do, what will you be doing?"

"Praying that she says yes, while I am on one knee!"

Rick heads to the front door of his apartment and swings it open. He then tapes an envelope to the door and closes it, but not securely, it is cracked open just a little. He then looks at his watch and notices that he is right on time, Kate will be here in the next 5 minutes. So he enters the kitchen where he has his large supply of rose petals and takes the bag and returns back to the door and starts to spread the rose petals from the door back to his bedroom. Liv and Ally look at him with a questioning look. It is not until they see him placing candles on the floor along side of the rose petals making a path of sorts towards his room. He lights each one as he places them down on the hardwood floor. They are about a foot apart and about 12 inches across from each other, it makes it look so romantic in their eyes.

Rick dims the lights in the living room and into the hallway someone could still see but it makes the experience a little more romantic. He quickly asks the girls to come with him into his bedroom. They follow without question. He places them alongside each other and hands them each a poster board. The first one Ally is holding saying "Will You" then he gives Liv the second board with the words "Marry Me?" printed on it. The letters are coated with a little gold glitter to give it a little pop and look great. Rick pulls the ring box from his pocket and drops his right knee to the floor. He opens it up and lets the light catch the brilliance of the diamond's shine from the setting sun through the window. It's then when they all freeze with the knock on the front door.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Kate is standing in front of his door. She knocked before seeing the envelope taped the door. Now she feels a little nervous. She takes the envelope and opens it up. Pulling the printed message from it, she starts to read:

" _ **Kate,**_

" _ **Please come in and follow the path that lays before you. I promise that you will be happy with where this path leads you!"**_

 _ **Rick**_

 _ **:)**_

Kate enters the now quite apartment and closes the front door. Locking it, she turns and sees the lit candles that adorn the rose petals that lead to the hallway. She walks forward towards the hallway.

Rick is now holding his breath. He can't begin to believe that she won't come towards his bedroom. And yet he hears nothing, then he does. She is walking although hesitantly, she is still heading towards them. He keeps his eyes trained on the bedroom door and waits.

Kate comes to the bedroom door and the rose petals and candles have ended, so she thinks that Rick wants to have sex with her and this was a very romantic way of asking her. She looks at the door and there is a piece of 8x11" paper taped to the door that said "Open Me" She opens the door and her eyes go wide with what she is seeing in front of her.

Rick sees her reaction, but she is still silent. He can't imagine why she has not said yes to his question.

"Kate"

It's the one word that he hopes will open her up and pull her out of her fog. But before he can get out her name a second time she is crashing into him with the speed of a freight train almost knocking him over while he is still holding the ring. Liv and Ally look on still waiting for her answer.

"Kate, is it really your intention that you want to marry me?"

"Rick, Yes! yes, yes, yes and yes a million times more!"

"Well, Kate I am glad that you have said yes!" as Rick finally releases the air he was holding in his lungs with a gasp. Kate looks over to Liv and Ally and asks them...

"Hey, did you guys have anything to do with this proposal?"

"Honestly Kate, we were in the dark on this one. Dad only told us about it an hour ago! Kate, I am so happy for you." Liv says. "Me too Kate," Ally adds.

Kate looks at Rick and she sees the love for her in his eyes. She is amazed at his love for her but as she looks deeper into his eyes she thinks that there is something that he is not telling her...


	18. Chapter 18

While Kate was more than happy that Rick asked to marry her he was hiding something from her. The question is should she pry and ask him what he was hiding, or let him come to her and tell her. She did not want to start what they have together on a lie. So she decided to let him tell her, but she gave him a week to do so. If he did not tell her by then she would ask him about it. Right now it was time to celebrate being engaged to a very wonderful man.

He had to tell her and he was thinking about how to do just that when he looked at her face. She knew that he was holding something back from her. So knowing her like he does she more than likely was giving him a couple of days to tell her. But would she be pissed that he was no longer going to be working in homicide? He himself did not mind Vice or Robbery but in order to stay at the 12th he would gladly take the bump up to Lieutenant just to be with her. So he started to think of a way to tell her.

"Dad, what do you think about going out to a great place to eat to celebrate your engagement?" Ally asked.

"Well, let's ask what Kate thinks. Kate?"

"I would love to. Do you have a place in mind?"

"Actually, I do. There is a small Italian restaurant about 3 blocks from here. The owner is a friend and he'd be happy to see us again."

"Okay then it's settled. Let me get my things and we can go. Girls make sure to bring something warm to wear it's supposed to be a little chilly later tonight." Kate could not believe that she told Rick's daughters to take something to keep them warm. Was she already taking on the role of mom? She hoped Rick was not mad with her suggestion.

They arrived at the restaurant and before long they were all eating a delicious meal. Kate and Rick both had the special, sauteed chicken beast smothered in in mushrooms on a bed of rice. Ally ordered the pasta with diced chicken. Liv ordered the classic spaghetti and meatballs. When dinner was done the owner came out and started talking to Rick.

"So Rick, what brings you out tonight?"

"Paul, I'd like you to meet Kate Beckett, my fiancee."

"Rick I am so happy for the both of you." Paul looked at Kate and decided to ask Kate something in Italian, but was unsure if she spoke the language.

"Ciao Kate, sei sicuro che si sa che cosa il vostro entrare in con questo ragazzo?"

(Hi Kate, are you sure that you know what you're getting into with this guy?)

Kate starts to speak, but in Italian making Rick wonder what else he does not know about her.

"Paul, sono consapevole di ciò che questo uomo è . È un uomo meraviglioso con due belle figlie . Io sono una donna così fortunata ! Il mio cuore è in forte aumento .

(Paul, I am aware of what this man is. He is a wonderful man with two beautiful daughters. I am such a lucky woman! My heart is soaring.)

Rick just watches the volley of conversation before him. He wonders what they are saying and now Kate has a way to talk to other people without him knowing what she is even saying to them.

"Ahhh Amore. Voi due fate una bella coppia ! Il meglio di fortuna a entrambi di voi."

(Ahhh Love. You two make a handsome couple! The best of luck to the both of you.)

"Grazie Paul" Kate says and ends their conversation. She watches as Paul walks away and now she knew that she could have some fun with Rick and she decided that she would.

"Kate, what did the two of you talk about?"

"It was nothing, Rick. Well not that much."

"Kate, come on tell me what he said."

"What's it to you, Rick?"

"I have a feeling that you are holding something back from me."

"You do, do you?" Kate raised an eyebrow to Rick at his last comment. Rick dropped his head suddenly looking at the knife, fork and spoon on the table. He knew that he was stuck.

"Rick, actually Paul asked me if we were serious about our engagement."

"Why would he ask you that?"

"Mmmmm I don't know, but he did mention something about if you did not ask me to marry you he would have easily slipped in and asked himself."

"Ask you what?" Kate was not sure if kidding him was such a good idea after all, but she was already in too deep now. She looked at the girls with looks of shock on their faces. They understood what she said but Rick did not. So she told him again.

"Rick he wanted to know if I would marry him."

"That son of a bi..." Rick was so red in the face, he pulled his napkin from his lap and started to rise from his seat looking all over to find Paul. Kate needed to come clean.

"Rick, babe I was just kidding. He has NO intentions of asking me to marry him. He was only giving us his blessing and I just wanted to get a rise out of you. For that I'm sorry."

"Kate, please don't do that again. But this does remind me that I need to speak to you when we get back to my apartment."

Kate looked at him with a look that stopped him from saying anything else.

"Rick, why do you think I would be going back to your place? I have my own apartment to go to."

"Kate, I thought that we could spend the night together. Don't you want to?"

"Dad, seriously...we're both sitting right across from you. Could you be any more gross?" It was Kate's turn to turn beet red this time.

"Girls, I think that we're done here. No coffee or dessert. We can get something on the way home." Rick raised his arm to get the attention of their server for the check. Not wanting to look over the fare he simply pulled out his wallet and placed $150.00 in the bill holder and got up to leave. Kate, Ally and Liv followed suit and they stopped at a Starbucks on the way back home. Rick decided to hail a cab and as he did he invited Kate in as well.

The ride was a short one and it was kinda crowded in the back seat between 4 people. When they pulled up to Kate's apartment, Kate gave him a look.

"Rick, what are we doing here?"

"Kate, you just told me that had your own place. And so here we are." The cab comes to a stop and the cabbie puts it in park.

"Rick you know that I was just kidding right, I'd like to spend the night with you."

"Kate I think that being apart would be best for tonight. I have a lot of things to think about and I need to do it alone. So if you don't mind."

"Rick is everything alright?" Kate asks as she thinks she might have pushed him a little too far.

"Kate, everythings fine." He opens the door and gets out to let her out. She gets out and leans in to give him a goodnight kiss, but he turns away before she can reach his lips. He slides back into the cab's rear seat and as he closes the door he hears her say to call him when he gets home as they pull away.

"Dad, what the hell was that?"

"Dad you just brushed her off...WHY?"

"Liv, I really don't need a lecture right now. I have some things to think about and after thinking about them now I'm not too sure if asking Kate to marry me was the right decision I could have made."

"Dad, talk to us! Don't shut us out we can help."

"Maybe later after I sort out what I need to do."

Kate stood on the sidewalk as the cab pulled away from her apartment. She wondered what the hell had just happened. She was just kidding when she made that crack about her staying with him tonight. She never thought he would turn her down. Something was up and she was going to find out what it was. As she turned towards her apartment she absentmindedly wiped the tears from her cheek. She unlocked her door and went in. Her first call was to her captain. It was late but she needed some answers.

"Captain"

"Detective you do you realize what time it is don't you?"

"Yes, Sir I do. I just wanted to know if you know...about the thing about ugggg" she was doing this so badly.

"Kate, what's wrong?"

"Sir, Rick asked me to marry him."

"And...?"

"And I said yes."

"Well there you go, that's great! I'm so happy for the both of you."

"Thank-you sir." Roy heard the heartache in her voice.

"Kate, what's the matter?"

"I think he is keeping something from me. And I don't know what it is."

"Kate listen he is going to have to tell you in his own time and in his own way."

"Oh God, he really does not want to marry me. I was such a fool!"

"Kate, calm down! You're just jumping to conclusions here. He loves you and for reasons I can't understand, but he really does want to marry you."

"Then what's going on?"

"Kate let me just tell you that Rick needs to make a couple of very permanent decisions within the next week or two."

"About what?"

"If I told you that then I'd never hear the end of it. Just be kind to him, he has a lot to sort out."

"Yes Sir." Kate ends the call. She sits on her couch and wonders what could be so big that he would not share it with her. As she replays the night in her mind then she remembered that he wanted to talk to her. Then it hits her, he wanted to talk to her at his place. He never mentioned them sleeping together. It was the girls who assumed that they were going to be together. God she's such a jerk.


	19. Chapter 19

The beach had pearl white sand. Kate and Rick were lying on the beach soaking up the bright yellow sun on their honeymoon on Maui on oversized blankets. She picked up the suntan lotion and asked Rick to rub some on the exposed parts of her body. She could not wait until he touched any part of her body. She wanted him just about anywhere. And she would let him know just that. Even though it would be illegal she wanted him to take her right there on the beach. Then she heard a loud banging like someone was trying to knock down a door. It was a persistent noise but one that would not stop. Funny how it sounded like knocking when she was on a beach. It continued loudly until she woke up, ruining her dream of fun in the sun.

She glanced at the clock on her nightstand 3:18 am. Who the hell could be at her door this early? She threw back the comforter, picked up her robe and trudged to the front door. Looking through the peep she noticed him. WTF? He looked like a madman still trying to beat down her door. She would wait and open the door once he started knocking again hoping that it would catch him off guard and fall into her doorway. She put on her robe and the knocking started again. She pulled the door open between knocks and just as she had hoped he fell forward into her apartment.

She placed her hand over her mouth to stop the laugh that wanted to escape her throat. As he tried to press up off the floor it was then that she could smell the booze as he exhaled. She tried to pick him up, but he was way to heavy to even think about doing that.

"Rick, can you make it over to the couch?"

He just mumbled something that she could not understand but he was able to get to his feet again. Now she felt bad not knowing the condition he was in when she opened the door in the first place.

"Kateeeeeee, I realllllllllly neeeeeed to stalk to you!"

"Stalk to me, Rick?"

"Yupper stalk, we really need to do that."

"Rick, how much have you had to drink tonight?"

"Kateeeeee thas not portant rite now. I have sommmmthing to tell you annnnd yourrr going to be so pisssssed off at me."

"Rick, I think that you need to be a little more sober before we have this conversation."

"Kateeee... noper I'm gonna to tell you what I had to tell you before I asked you to merrrry me!"

"Merry me...you?"

"Sorry, murry you."

"Murry me, Oh, I get it marry me. Okay so tell please tell me, because it can't be that bad...right?"

"Baby, you don't know the half of it!"

About an hour and a half later Kate was listening to Rick as he told her that he would be leaving the 12th's homicide division and become the officer in charge for either the Vice unit or Robbery. What they did not know is that Roy had made a call to the chief of detectives after Kate had called him. Rick would actually be running both divisions. Roy had tried to get 1PP to keep Rick as a lieutenant in homicide, but that actually turned out to backfire on Roy. 1PP knew about Rick and Kate and decided to keep him at bay. He would learn that NYPD regulations were not to be challenged. Roy made the argument that Rick and Kate's relationship would not interfere with their duties at the 12th. They did not want to hear it.

"Rick, is this what you wanted to tell me earlier?"

"Yes Kate, it was. I am so sorry to keep this from you but I didn't know how to tell you that I'd be assigned to another unit. I'm so sorry."

"Babe, listen to me, if this what you were worried about why not come to me to start off with? Why did you think that I'd be mad?"

"Kate, the fact that we will not be working together should be reason enough...don't you think?"

Is that what you think...seriously? Having you in my life means more to me than working together! I love you, Liv and Ally. So please let's work around this so we can actually have a sound foundation for a solid relationship. I understand that you might need to head up a different department and that's fine with me. As long as at the end of the day you are in my arms then that's fine. That's not going to stop me from loving you. So please take the bump up and then maybe we can find a venue for our wedding by next month."

Rick was shocked. Maybe he just have come to her in the first place and not worry about the pressure it put on what they had together.

"Kate, while I am happy that you understand what the department want's to do with me...can we please go to bed now?"

Rick, what about Liv and Ally?"

"Not to worry, Mrs. Johnson is staying with them. She will call me if anything happens."

"Remind me to thank Mrs. Johnson later. Come on baby lets get you ready for bed."

Those words were music to his ears. And before long he was stripped of his clothes and lying naked in Kate's queen sized bed. She really wanted to take advantage of his naked form lying in her bed but being that he was still a little out of it she decided to take advantage of him in the morning. She had the day off. Loving him could wait until dawn.

The sun was up and she woke to a loud snoring. She had really hoped that this was due to him being blitzed last night. And it's not a habit. She gently nudged him to get him to wake up. Being that he was more than likely still sleeping it off she shook him just a little harder. He woke with a start and when he slowly opened his eyes he quickly pulled the sheets over his torso.

Kate could not do anything but giggle. He looked at her wondering how he got into her bed in the first place. Then it slowly came back to him. As he looked at Kate after putting last night behind him he wondered if she was still mad at him. Within a minute she was kissing him slowly and passionately. So that answered his question if she was still mad at him. He noticed that she was just as naked as he was, so he had taken advantage of her. They made love for what felt like forever. 5 rounds and 4 hours later Rick has a question he needs her to answer.

"Kate listen, I want to get married as soon as humanly possible. Are you okay with that?"

Kate drew her thumb into her mouth and started biting her thumbnail vigorously. She needed clarification from him.

"When did you have in mind?"

"Well, today is Sunday and we both have next Sunday off, do you think that we could pull this off in a week? I mean we love each other so what does it matter if we do it next week or 5 months from now?"

"No, I see what you are saying. We need to talk to your children and ask their opinion."

"I'm sure that they will be more than happy, and so very helpful."

"Well, in that case, I don't have any issues with it. So next Sunday?"

"Yes, so next Sunday. It's a date!"

"So let's go back to your place and talk to the girls."

They waited, holding their breath while what they wanted to do was presented to his daughters. After about a minute Liv and Ally wee hugging Kate like she was their best friend. Finally getting the girls blessing they all went into planning mode. It would take a lot to get a wedding planned and executed in a little under a week. But with the help of the girls, the tasks were greatly reduced. So now it was T minus 2 days and they were only waiting on the priest to see if he could officiate their vows.

Roy had given them time off together for their honeymoon. But after they returned it would be nose to the grindstone. He had hoped that they would be able to make the different jobs work in their favor. Roy really hated to lose Rick to another department. However he still had Kate and she was quickly becoming a great and thorough detective.

Kate was at Rick's when her cell phone rang. She answered it and the priest on the other end told her that he had adjusted his schedule to marry them. Kate was on could nine. This priest was a family friend when she needed one the most. She thanked him and hung up. Rushing into the kitchen to let Rick know that the last hurdle was covered.

Now it was their last hurrah. They had rented space at the New York Botanical Garden for the actual wedding and the reception to follow. The Garden was celebrating it's 125th year anniversary and had given them a great deal on the price since they were both employees of the city. The ceremony was exquisite. There were purple orchards gracing the archways that they walked under to arrive at the alter. Kate was in heaven. She was soaking up everything she laid her eyes on. The colors were amazing.

Kate's father had arrived and linked arms with his daughter. He looked at her and she looked back. Then ha asked her "Katie, are you ready?"

"More than you know dad, more than you know." He gently escorted her towards the alter where Rick was waiting for them. As she came closer to her love, she looked at him with a renewed love. As she walked past Liv, Ally and Pam and her husband she gave them all a small smile. They all smiled back at her. Reaching the alter Rick waited as Jim had raised her veil and kissed he on her cheek and told her that he loved her with all of his heart.

The priest started with the customary "Dearly Beloved we are..."

Twenty-Two minutes later they were husband and wife. They were immediately being swarmed by the girls and Pam wishing the happy couple the best of luck. Rick calmed them and then told them that there was a reception inside the garden and that all were invited to attend. The party lasted until the wee hours. It was great to see everyone having a good time.

Kate sits behind her desk and remembers that day so vividly as if it happened just yesterday. 17 years is a long time. She gazes towards the Captains office and looks at him. Rick looks so great, but it seems that he has so much more paperwork than Roy ever had. She wants him as badly now as she did when they first met. Sure he has a little more gray around the temples and his eyes don't have the same spark they had in them all those years ago, but she loves him all just the same.

"Lieutenant Beckett?"

Kate is drawn from her thoughts. "Lieutenant Beckett? Where do we file these reports?"

"Foster, they need to go in the inactive file. The cold case files are downstairs."

"Yes, ma'am."

Rick walks out of his office and grabs Kate and pulls her into a lip lock kiss that even has Ryan giving him a look.

"Babe, are you ready to go home?"

"Rick we need to catch the last half of Michael's game." Kate says looking at her watch.

"Right, I completely forgot. Ryan, Espo, sleep in tomorrow. Report in at 1000 hours."

"Thanks, Boss" they both reply in unison. After they grab their stuff Kate says

"You are too much Rick!"

"What are you talking about Kate?"

'You purposely gave them time off in the morning knowing that you were going to assign them that double murder...right?"

"My lips are sealed!"

"Let's get out of here. I can't wait to see my son."

"Me either"

 **A/N: This is the final chapter for "The Rookie". There will be nothing further. I was told by some reviewers (guests) that I was dragging out the ending. If this was the case I do offer my heartfelt apologies. I am possibly thinking about posting 1 last story from my old pen name, I am wondering if you the reader would like to read it? Norman01 this is for you!**

 **Thanks,**

 **P2P**


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